


Tea for two

by xJane



Category: SKAM (France)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Coffee Shops & Cafés, Alternate Universe - Twins, Angst, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Angst with a Happy Ending, Coffee Shops, Eliott might be somewhat ooc too, Lucas is just a bit ooc, M/M, Mutual Pining, POV Lucas, Slow(ish) build, Strangers to Lovers, Twins, barista!Lucas, but that's because of reasons, he's sooo sweet though, twin!Eliott
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-25
Updated: 2020-07-31
Packaged: 2021-03-06 06:54:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 9
Words: 24,202
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25509331
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/xJane/pseuds/xJane
Summary: “Hi there,” Lucas called out, before Emile even reached the counter. “So what are you in the mood for today? Hot cocoa? Frappuccino? Mocha pumpkin spice?”“Tea,” Emile replied gloomily.Lucas looked up in confusion. Emile seemed a bit off today, and Lucas worried. His eyes didn’t seem to sparkle with mirth and mischief, and his usual merry smile was missing. He hoped Emile and Lucille hadn’t been arguing.“Tea? Wouldn’t you rather –”Emile interrupted him, sighing heavily.“I am not who you think I am.”“Huh?”Lucas shook his head, now genuinely worried.“Emile, what’s –”“I’m not Emile. I’m his twin.”***Or, the one where Lucas meets Eliott's twin first.
Relationships: Eliott Demaury/Lucas Lallemant
Comments: 192
Kudos: 297





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I really need to stick to one shots. This one, it's... not as I wanted it to be. It frustrates me to no end that the chapters are not roughly similar in word count, and that the structure is a bit lopsided. I mean, I think story-wise it's okay, but I guess I am more of a nit-picker than I thought.
> 
> But it got to the point where I've really had enough of fiddling around with it, so here it comes either way. It's 9 chapters (of unequal length 😥), about 21000 words in total. As usual, it's written, just the proofreading is left.
> 
> I guess I'm just grumpy. Anyone wants to give me some good news for a change?
> 
> Anyway, enjoy y'all!
> 
> <3
> 
> PS I hate titles too, apparently.
> 
> PPS Check the tags as usual! Don't say you weren't warned... although there is really nothing in this story you need to be warned about.

Lucas loved his job in general, but he loved one customer in particular. For as long as Lucas had been working at the coffee shop, nearly every morning, Emile had come in, a bright smile on his face, being all together way too gorgeous for the early hour, bantering freely with Lucas as the latter made him his coffee. It always managed to set Lucas up for a great day, and although he wouldn’t consider himself to be superstitious, on those days when he didn’t see Emile in the morning, Lucas always seemed to have some sort of mishap happen to him during the day. Like the day he received his dad’s wedding invitation, or the day he failed a huge test, or the day some asshole in his class had noticed Lucas’ rainbow pin and called him the f-word.

After the first time, for a few weeks, Lucas had felt butterflies whenever he saw Emile, and he’d definitely had a small crush on his favourite customer. But it had petered out when Emile had brought his girlfriend, Lucille, in with him one day. Lucas hadn’t been too heartbroken over it, especially because Emile and Lucille looked so beautiful together. Lucille had a sweet smile and had told Lucas how her boyfriend kept talking about the friendly barista, so she’d decided to come check it out for herself. She’d accompanied Emile once or twice after that, but mostly it was just Emile getting his morning caffeine fix, occasionally passing on Lucille’s greetings, which Lucas returned with a grin.

Just because Emile was obviously happy in love, and Lucas’ crush had been short-lived, didn’t mean he couldn’t appreciate Emile, though. His cute wide grin, his pretty grey eyes that shone when he laughed, and his mouth-wateringly gorgeous ass which Lucas couldn’t help but admire as Emile walked off with his unvaryingly super sweet coffee concoction in his hand – all of these were seared in Lucas’ mind. Just because he wasn’t allowed to touch, didn’t mean Lucas couldn’t look, right? It was innocent. Just another way to appreciate his favourite customer, outside of their banter, and Emile’s generous tips.

He’d even admitted it to Emile one day, a few weeks ago. It had been a very quiet, rainy morning, and not many customers were around, so Emile had lingered a bit while sipping his drink, talking to Lucas. They did that sometimes, when they had the chance, and Lucas loved it. This particular time, Emile had asked Lucas for advice on an anniversary present for Lucille. Lucas had laughed, and explained to Emile that first of all, he’d never been in a relationship long enough to need anniversary presents, and secondly, he didn’t have a clue about what girls liked. From one thing came another, and it ended with Lucas confessing he’d had a short-lived crush on Emile. Emile had wiggled his eyebrows, trying to fish for compliments, and Lucas had grumbled at that, claiming Emile knew fully well he was quite easy on the eyes.

After that, Emile had teased him a couple of times, asking Lucas whether he’d had any hot dates lately, to which Lucas truthfully replied that he did go out on dates occasionally, but nothing stuck so far; or whether Lucas approved of Emile’s ass in his new jeans, to which Lucas replied with a well-placed middle finger.

Today though, Lucas feared it might become a bad day. It was getting late, and Lucas’ shift was almost over. Usually Emile was earlier than this. Maybe he wouldn’t be in today, and Lucas felt his spirits sink a little as he cleaned up waiting for Maya, who was supposed to take over in ten minutes.

The doorbell rang, and as Lucas looked up, a smile formed on his face. Seemed like it was going to be a good day after all.

“Hi there,” Lucas called out, before Emile even reached the counter. “So what are you in the mood for today? Hot cocoa? Frappuccino? Mocha pumpkin spice?”

“Tea,” Emile replied gloomily.

Lucas looked up in confusion. Emile seemed a bit off today, and Lucas worried. His eyes didn’t seem to sparkle with mirth and mischief, and his usual merry smile was missing. He hoped Emile and Lucille hadn’t been arguing.

“Tea? Wouldn’t you rather –”

Emile interrupted him, sighing heavily.

“I am not who you think I am.”

“Huh?”

Lucas shook his head, now genuinely worried.

“Emile, what’s –”

“I’m not Emile. I’m his twin.”

Lucas was dumbfounded for a moment. Surely Emile was just messing with him?

“I’m not joking. If you were to see us next to each other, you’d see the differences. My jaw is sharper and my eyes are a bit lighter, for example. I’m taller, too.”

Lucas looked carefully. God knew he’d stared at Emile often enough, but he couldn’t really spot the differences. The only clues were the ones Lucas had already picked up on: the dull eyes and the grim look instead of a smiling mouth and ditto eyes.

Not-Emile was clearly getting impatient now, and didn’t seem to appreciate Lucas’ staring.

“Listen, could you just get me my tea? I don’t have all day.”

“Sure,” Lucas replied, still a bit shook. “Name?”

Not-Emile gaped at him.

“What? What do you need my name for?”, he said, almost hostile.

“Uh, for the coff- for the tea?”

“Oh. Okay. Uh, Eliott,” he mumbled, taken aback.

Lucas turned around and got busy readying his order of tea. He couldn’t remember he’d ever made an actual tea before, even though he’d been working here for nearly a year. Who came into a coffee shop for tea, anyway? His favourite customer’s twin, apparently… Stranger things had probably happened, but this one surely ranked quite high on the list.

Eliott did not acknowledge Lucas as he handed him his tea, and left without another word. Lucas watched him go. At least from behind Eliott looked every bit as gorgeous as Emile did.

~~~

Lucas was not in a good mood the next morning. When he had arrived in class yesterday, he had discovered he had forgotten his essay at home, earning him a reduced score for tardiness, and he fully blamed it on Eliott. Obviously, Eliott was not a good-luck charm like his twin. So when said twin bounced in, all smiles and buoyancy, cheerily greeting Lucas, the latter didn’t reply, but just frowned at Emile.

“What’s the matter, Lu?”, Emile inquired.

“I guess it’s really you, then,” Lucas retorted somewhat mysteriously.

Emile didn’t catch up immediately, however.

“What do you mean, it’s really me? Who else would it – Oh! Wait a second! Did Eliott finally come by?”

If anything, he seemed to be getting even more joyful as he said that. Lucas wasn’t deterred by it.

“If by Eliott you mean this guy who looks exactly like you and orders tea in a fucking coffee shop, then yeah, he did.”

“Oh my god, that’s amazing! And he doesn’t like exactly like me, by the way. Our eye colour is different and we don’t have the exact same facial structure.”

“Don’t forget you are shorter,” Lucas deadpanned sarcastically.

“Oh, fuck off! By two fucking centimeters! I don’t know why he always needs to bring that up, seriously, it’s beyond me.”

“Funny, that. You wanna know what’s beyond me? Why you never felt the need to tell me you had a twin brother, for one.”

‘Oh, come on, Lucas,” Emile begged, “don’t be upset. It never came up, that’s all.”

Lucas merely raised a brow. Emile had asked him about siblings before, so the subject had definitely come up.

“Okay,” Emile said, suddenly serious, “I’m sorry. It’s just that… Eliott went through a difficult period this past year. We used to come here together a lot, before you worked here, but things happened, and well, Eliott has been mad at me for the longest time – not that he didn’t have a reason, but never mind – and he’s had a lot to come to terms with. He’s only been talking to me again for the last two months or so, and I just thought it might be good for him to come back to this place. I’m just glad he listened. You were nice to him, weren’t you, Lucas?”

Lucas shrugged.

“He didn’t give me much chance to be nice to him, to be honest. He didn’t seem to enjoy coming here at all. I wouldn’t be surprised if I don’t see him ever again, let me tell you.”

“Oh, fuck,” Emile breathed. “I hope you are wrong.”

~~~

As it turned out, Lucas was indeed wrong.

Eliott came by again a few days later, ordering a tea, using the bare minimum of words to do it, and leaving as soon as Lucas handed over his cup.

It was a mystery to Lucas why somebody who clearly did not enjoy the whole experience would even bother with it. It was tea. Boiling water and a tea bag. It wasn’t even any fancy brand of tea, either. But whether Lucas understood it or not, it became a bit of a regular occurrence. Not every day, but two, sometimes three days a week Eliott would come by and order tea. He never smiled, never used more words than necessary, never stayed even a minute after Lucas handed him his tea.

It baffled Lucas, honestly, how this distant, taciturn, sombre, unapproachable man was Emile’s twin. If they hadn’t been looking similar enough to fool a mirror, Lucas would have assumed one of them got switched at birth. But he remembered Emile’s words - _Eliott went through a difficult period_ and that imploring, pleading _You were nice to him, weren’t you?_ – and so he did his best to be as friendly and open as he could. He greeted Eliott with a smile and a cheery hello every time he came in, he asked him silly things about the weather, offered him a muffin occasionally, which Eliott always declined politely but decisively.

Lucas wasn’t deterred easily, and it took a while, but one day Eliott smiled at Lucas, a small, brief smile which didn’t reach his eyes, but Lucas felt like he’d conquered some mighty end boss in one of Yann’s video games, that’s how elated that smile made him. The first time Eliott accepted a muffin, Lucas felt on top of the world. He realised he rather liked the quiet, calm Eliott. Sure, Emile still came by, full of energy and jokes, but Lucas seemed somehow drawn to Eliott. They started talking, sometimes, just some generic small talk, about their classes – Eliott was studying art – or about some movie on tv they both happened to watch – once Eliott dissected the whole damn thing, just because Lucas said he hadn’t really understood it.

Emile asked one day whether Eliott had been by again, and Lucas had admitted to him that Eliott had, indeed, and that they had been talking a bit. Emile seemed really happy about that, and had gone so far as to thank Lucas, although when Lucas inquired what he was being thanked for, Emile just smiled and left with a cheerful wave.

One thing that bothered Lucas a lot about Eliott was how uncertain he was about himself. Every time Lucas came even close to saying something that could even be considered complimentary – about his clothes, or something witty he said, or some other small thing like that – Eliott turned into himself, shrugging it off, going silent and making up an excuse to leave. Lucas wanted to tell him there was nothing wrong with him, that he didn’t have to be so self-depreciating, but he didn’t know how to. So all he did was find ways to tell Eliott something Lucas liked about him every day. He kept it light – congratulating Eliott on a good grade, thanking him for holding the door for somebody, admiring Eliott’s sketches the few times Eliott showed Lucas something – and sometimes, when he was feeling extra brave, saying he liked Eliott’s smile. It still seemed to make Eliott a bit uncomfortable, but after a while, he just thanked Lucas and changed the subject, which was a whole lot better than denying he was anything special or muttering he was mostly a failure at life.

Slowly but surely, Eliott and Lucas found a rhythm. Eliott would come by after the rush of office workers had petered out somewhat, near the end of Lucas’ shift, which meant a better chance for them to get to talk for a couple of minutes. Once or twice, when their schedules lined up, Eliott would hang out until Lucas clocked off, and they would walk to the university together, separating ways by the library, Eliott heading off to the Arts department, and Lucas making his way to the lab or the science lecture hall.

It was only when Lucas had three bad days in a row – first, his dad had called him, then he had forgotten about a pop quiz in his astronomy class, and then he had been fined for riding the bus without a valid ticket – that Eliott had been a no show for the past three days.

It wasn’t completely unheard of for Eliott to miss a few days in a row, but usually he’d warn Lucas that he had a deadline coming up or something, so it was enough to worry Lucas slightly. So when Emile bounced in the next morning, Lucas brought it up.

“Hey, Emile, I haven’t seen Eliott the last couple of days. Do you know if he has been busy, or something?”

Lucas thought he saw something in Emile’s eyes, but it quickly disappeared.

“Eliott? Uh, no, I don’t know. He’s probably just… preparing for a test, or something.”

Emile blinked and didn’t look at Lucas. Lucas narrowed his eyes in disbelief. Emile was obviously hiding something, and Lucas glared at him.

“Okay, well, I – don’t worry about it, Lucas. He’ll be fine, okay?”

“He’ll be fine? But he’s not fine right now? What’s going on, Emile? He’s not sick, is he?”

“No, he – well, uh… Okay, listen, Lucas, I can’t tell you. But he’ll be fine, he’ll be back soon, I promise.”

Emile’s stammering didn’t exactly reassure Lucas.

“Tell me what’s going on, Emile, so I can judge for myself.”

“I’m sorry, Lucas… Look, I know the two of you are friends, and I think that’s really great, but he needs to be able to tell you certain things himself.”

Lucas couldn’t argue against that. He wouldn’t want Emile to break his brother’s trust, or for Lucas to pry information about Eliott out of Emile. It would be unfair towards Eliott. But still, now he was even more concerned than earlier.

“Okay,” he agreed. “Maybe we can compromise somehow… I know. You could give me his number, and I’ll text him.”

Emile hesitated a bit.

“Oh, come on, Emile! We’re friends, you said it yourself. We just never needed each other’s number before since we just meet up here. If he doesn’t like it, you can blame me for nagging incessantly until you had no choice but to give in.”

“Oh, okay, fine. Just don’t get upset if you get no answer.”

“What? Why wouldn’t he answer? Emile, you said he’s fine!”

“I said he will be fine, which, as you pointed out, doesn’t mean he is fine now. Just… don’t worry, okay?”

Lucas ran his hands through his hair after Emile had left, Eliott’s number safely stored in his phone. No matter what Emile said, he was worried beyond words.

After his shift, he sat down with a coffee and thought about what to write Eliott. It took him a while and several drafts, but in the end, he decided to keep it simple.

**Lucas**

Hey, Eliott. It is Lucas, from the coffee shop. Emile gave me your number. Don’t blame him, I begged until he gave in. I was just worried about you, missed you these past few days. Hope you’re okay.

It wasn’t until late that night that his message was read, but as Emile had predicted, a reply stayed away.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, so I have been messing with the chapters to get them more even in length - don't worry, I added to the shorter ones instead of cutting from the longer ones, so it should be a win-win, right? I'm still not too happy about the story arc - plot is hard, people! But, **[spoiler]** at least you won't have to wait until chapter 9 for our boys to get together this time.
> 
> So, of course we all know what's going on with Eliott, not coming for tea and not answering his messages... And we clearly see what's going on between Elu... But what has made Eliott so sad and uncertain? And what is happening between the twins? Patience, we'll get there... soon, I promise!
> 
> Oh, and, we are not really exactly under lockdown again, but "strongly advised to stay at home except for absolutely essential displacements", so what else am I to do but write... I just can't decide whether I'll get another chapter of this story proofread and posted first, or work on some others I have going now that I have a bit of time. (The sensible answer, of course, would be "study for your exams", but hey, it's weekend for everybody, right?)
> 
> <3

**Eliott**

Hey, thanks for your message. Sorry it took me so long to respond. It did mean a lot to me though. More than you can imagine.

**Lucas**

Hey, no worries. Hope you’re okay. I missed you at the shop.

**Eliott**

Really? You mean that? You missed me being grumpy and ordering tea?

**Lucas**

That too. But also you telling me all about your art projects and drinking your tea as if it is the best damn tea you ever had.

**Eliott**

That’s because it is.

**Lucas**

Eliott. It is boiling water and a tea bag.

**Eliott**

Lucas. You make it for me.

**Lucas.**

Whatever. I also missed the rare occasions where I get to see your beautiful smile.

**Eliott**

I don’t really have a beautiful smile…

**Lucas**

🙄 Yes, Eliott. You do. It’s all the more wonderful because it’s rare.

**Eliott**

You seem to bring out the best in me.

~~~

It was rainy and cold outside. Lucas didn’t mind, because grey windy mornings like this usually meant a quiet shift. He’d hardly seen a customer at all and he was busying himself on his phone when the door opened. Lucas lifted his head and felt his cheeks split in a wide, bright grin.

“Eliott!”, he called out happily. “I’m so glad you’re back.”

Eliott came up to the counter and smiled back.

“Hey. I’m glad to be back.”

They stood there for a while, just grinning at each other. Then Lucas turned around, starting to make Eliott’s tea. Eliott laughed when Lucas handed him the cup.

“Best damn tea ever.”

Lucas laughed too, and rolled his eyes.

“Boiling water and a tea bag, Eliott. You’ll get the same effect at home doing it yourself.”

“Probably not, though,” Eliott replied. “I’m worthless in the kitchen. Emile says I can burn water. And besides, at home I don’t have you. You’re part of the experience.”

Lucas blushed a little. Eliott was looking at him intensely. To cover up, Lucas shrugged.

“I could come make you tea at yours.”

Eliott still stared at him with a strange look in those grey eyes.

“You could? You would?”

They both stood there again in silence, their smiles now gone, an unfamiliar current running between them.

“I’ll hold you to that. Maybe next time I’m having – next time I can’t make it to the shop.”

Lucas’ curiosity got the better of him.

“Were you – I mean, you don’t have to tell me, but I just – I guess I was worried.”

Something lit up in Eliott’s eyes.

“You really worried about me?”

“Yeah, I suppose I did. Emile didn’t want to tell me what was going on. I had to beg him for your number. Said it may not be a good idea to contact you. You weren’t ill or anything, were you?”

Eliott seemed to turn inwards, make himself smaller, as his eyes lost their shine. Lucas hated that, hated seeing Eliott like this. It reminded him of how self-depreciating Eliott used to be whenever Lucas would say something positive about him. He hated it even more now that he had brought it on, and he wished he’d kept his mouth shut.

“It was nice that you contacted me. As I said, you’ll never know how much it meant to me. And, Lucas, I really want to tell you what was going on. Just not – not now, please? I just need a bit of time…”

Lucas felt his stomach turn at Eliott’s pleading voice. Like he expected Lucas to refuse to give him what he needed or wanted, like he expected Lucas to turn his back on Eliott because he asked for something.

“Hey. Hey, Eliott,” he said softly, reassuringly.

He reached out to touch Eliott’s hand on the counter. The contact sent a shockwave through him, and Eliott jerked at it. Hastily, he pulled his hand back, but Eliott grabbed it and covered it with his own. Lucas stared at it, momentarily lost, until he remembered what he was saying.

“I meant it when I said you don’t have to tell me. If you want to, I’ll be there to listen, whenever you want, okay? You decide. You don’t owe me anything.”

Eliott closed his eyes.

“Maybe I do,” he mumbled, before adding, louder and clearer, “Thanks, Lucas. I want to tell you. Soon, okay?”

“Soon,” Lucas repeated. “Okay. For now, I’m just glad you’re back. And I have your number now. I won’t let you disappear again.”

Eliott smiled again at that, one of his rare, bright, open smiles. Lucas felt as if the sun suddenly had started shining. He had really missed those smiles, sporadic as they were.

“You promise?”, Eliott asked, and Lucas couldn’t do anything but nod, his own grin wide, mirroring Eliott’s.

“Good,” Eliott breathed, before letting go of Lucas’ hand. Lucas felt cold all of a sudden. Eliott took his tea, and as the door opened to let a bunch of windswept teenagers in, he turned to go.

“Best tea ever. See you, Lucas.”

And Lucas stood behind the counter, a bit light-headed, and watched him go. He didn’t even stare at his ass this time.

~~~

“Be with you in a minute, Eliott,” Lucas said, with his back half to the door, busy making a bunch of coffees for some businessmen in suits and ties, clearly in a hurry. Eliott stood to the side, waiting patiently until all the suits had the right drink and Lucas came over towards him, a cup of tea steaming in his hand. Eliott reached out for it, took a sip, and looked over the rim to Lucas.

“Best –”

“Oh, fuck off,” Lucas retorted good-naturedly. “That’s so old it’s got a beard, Eliott.”

Eliott laughed. Lucas loved it when Eliott laughed, when all the heaviness he seemed to carry with him lifted and he was so beautifully himself.

“Sorry. It’s still true, though. But I’ll shut up about it. I actually have a question for you.”

Lucas hummed, intrigued.

“How did you know it was me?”

“Huh? Why would I not know it was you?”

“I meant, how did you know it was me, and not Emile? I just wondered – you didn’t even get a good look at me, and I didn’t say anything, yet you still knew. Not many people can even tell us apart when they don’t see us together.”

Lucas thought about that. Eliott was right. After Eliott’s first visit, he’d been confused as to which twin came in a couple of times. It was hard to spot the subtle differences between the twins. But by now, he just immediately knew. It was something about Eliott, that wasn’t there with Emile. Maybe it was just the way Eliott held himself, as if he was afraid to take up any space, so unlike the confident saunter of Emile. Then again, Lucas suddenly recognized, lately Eliott had been different. He wasn’t sad and grumpy nearly as often as he used to be. He seemed more at ease, nowadays. But still, Lucas just knew which twin came through the door without really having to think about it.

Maybe it just was because he felt connected to Eliott, somehow. Maybe it was that tiny frisson on his spine, that only happened when Eliott came in.

But how could he tell Eliott that without sounding like a creep?

“I guess I’m one of the happy few who can, then,” he replied finally, shrugging a bit.

Eliott fidgeted with his cup.

“Are you disappointed when it’s me?”

“What? Why would I be?”

“It’s just… You and Emile are friends, have been friends for a lot longer than you’ve known me… And he’s definitely a lot less grumpy than I am. So I guess I was just wondering… When you see me coming in, wouldn’t you rather it was him? Like, in the beginning when I would come in, you’d have this big smile on your face, thinking I was Emile, but then you’d lose it when you’d realize who I was.”

Lucas was taken aback by that question. He wanted to just start denying it automatically, but he sensed this was important for Eliott. He deserved an honest answer.

“Those first few times you came in, yeah, maybe I did. You barely talked to me and it felt like you didn’t even necessarily want to be here.”

Eliott nodded sadly.

“I know. I’m sorry. It was never about you, though. I just – you’re right, I didn’t necessarily want to be here. I came here a lot, before you worked here, with Emile and my – my ex. Anyway, after she – after we broke up, I just didn’t want to come here anymore… But then Emile kept pushing me, so I came, but it was hard. I’m sorry I took it out on you.”

Lucas felt Eliott’s sadness and self-depreciation resurface, and as always, he wished he could take it all away from him.

“Oh, don’t worry, you didn’t! You were just really quiet, I guess. And anyway, we managed to work it out, didn’t we? You are now just as much my friend as Emile is. More, even. I mean, he doesn’t tell me I make the best damn coffee, so you have that going for you.”

Eliott smiled, but it didn’t reach his eyes. Lucas’ heart ached for the boy.

“So hey, your ex? Does she still come here? I can spit in her coffee, if you want.”

He had hoped Eliott would laugh at his joke, but instead he just looked at Lucas, a contemplating look on his face.

“I don’t think she comes often anymore. Maybe she feels guilty, I don’t know, or she just doesn’t want to run into me. But I do think you’ve met her once or twice.”

The cryptic remark made Lucas all the more intrigued. He started thinking about semi-regular customers. She must be incredibly pretty, to have been with Eliott. She also must be incredibly stupid, to break up with Eliott. And, he thought, he really wanted to spit in her coffee, some small revenge for her hurting Eliott so badly he still carried that heaviness in his heart after all this time.

~~~

Eliott and Lucas stood off to the side of the counter. It was another quiet morning, rainy and dreary, and Monday on top. Lucas relished in the drabness of it all, because it meant fewer customers and more time to talk to Eliott before Eliott needed to leave. Eliott had come in with paint stains all over his hands and wrists, which Lucas loved. It usually meant he had been working either late into the night or got up at the crack of dawn to paint, and that in turn usually meant he was feeling very inspired. Lucas loved listening to an inspired Eliott. Even though most of what he said made no sense to Lucas, it still enthralled him to hear Eliott so passionate, so on fire.

“And anyway, I just always thought it’d be great to just go all Jackson Pollock on an entire wall in my living room, I don’t know why. Do you think it would be weird?”

Lucas blushed, having to admit he was barely listening to Eliott’s actual words.

“Huh? What? I don’t know.”

Eliott laughed, delighted.

“You have no clue who Pollock is, do you?”

Lucas shrugged. It was probably embarrassing to admit that no, he had no clue whatsoever, but it was still less awkward to confess that he’d been so mesmerized by Eliott’s voice, his hands, the stars in his eyes, that he didn’t even know what he was talking about in the first place.

“He basically just splattered paint everywhere, in all colours. Oh, it sounds stupid, I know, but it’s just beautiful. Here, I can show you…”

He grabbed his phone and started tapping on it.

At that point, the doorbell rang, and Lucas looked up, annoyed he’d have to go do his actual job, the one he was being paid for, rather than watching Eliott be all beautiful and adorable.

Lucas quickly touched Eliott’s hand.

“Duty calls. Don’t go just yet, okay?”

Eliott nodded, engrossed in his phone. Then Lucas noticed who had come in.

“Lucas, my man! Stop flirting with your customers! I’m in the mood for something with loads of vanilla syrup today,” Emile called out.

A moment of silence fell, as Lucas didn’t have a sharp and witty retort ready immediately, and Eliott lifted his head and turned around.

“Hi, Emile,” he said.

Emile turned his head to the corner at the sound of Eliott’s voice.

“Oh, fuck, sorry, Eliott! Didn’t know it was you!”

“Yeah, I got that. Doubt you’d think Lucas would be flirting with me, right?”

Eliott’s voice sounded a bit rude, and Lucas looked from one twin to the other. It was the first time he’d actually seen them together. There really wasn’t much to distinguish them by, he thought.

“Shit, Eliott, don’t –”

Eliott interrupted him, a coldness in his tone Lucas had never heard before.

“No Lucille?”

“Eliott… Please.”

Eliott laughed, but it was a humourless, cruel laugh.

“Just joking, brother. Just joking.”

Another silence fell, heavy and awkward. Lucas didn’t know what was going on, but decided to intervene anyway.

“So, lots of vanilla, you said, Emile?”

“Uhm, yeah. Whatever, Lucas, I trust your taste.”

Lucas thought he heard Eliott snort, but he quickly got something together for Emile, and handed it to him without a word. Emile paid, and without any of their usual banter, left the store.

Lucas went back to Eliott. Eliott seemed uncomfortable though, and mumbled something about leaving.

“Oh, come on, please don’t! You were going to show me something. Some artist?”

Eliott studied him intently.

“You didn’t have to ditch your favourite customer, you know.”

Lucas grinned.

“I didn’t. I’m talking to him right now.”

Eliott shrugged, like he didn’t believe Lucas, but he went back to searching some paintings on his phone nevertheless. And as Lucas watched him, he decided that whether Eliott believed it or not, he had been speaking the truth.

~~~

Emile came in a lot calmer than usual the next day.

“So, are you going to trust my taste again, or do you have an actual order today?”, Lucas asked as soon as he had reached the counter.

“Fuck, Lucas, I’m sorry about that.”

“About what, exactly? What was going on between the two of you, Emile?”

“It’s nothing, Lucas, just some stuff between siblings.”

Lucas raised an eyebrow, not buying it in the least, but decided to let go. It wasn’t his business, after all. He huffed, and turned around to make Emile’s coffee. As he handed it to him, some of Emile’s normal energy had seemingly come back.

“Either way, Lu, seems like you and Eliott get along quite well.”

Lucas raised another eyebrow.

“I believe you called it flirting yesterday.”

“Well… was it?”

“Shut up, you. Just because I had a crush on you ages ago, doesn’t mean I’m redirecting all that to your brother or something. It doesn’t work like that, you know.”

Lucas laughed, but Emile seemed a bit pained by that statement.

“God, no, Lucas, that’s not what I meant at all. Just… you like Eliott, right? He could use some more friends.”

Lucas looked at him inquiringly, but Emile stared back, just as stubbornly.

“Okay, yeah,” Lucas gave in, “I like him. And we’re friends, I think.”

Emile nodded at that, his happy smile back on his face.

“Good. That’s good.”

Lucas silently agreed. It was great, even.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next chapter: Eliott tells Lucas everything!
> 
> Please feel free to point out any errors.
> 
> And as always, comments make bad days better and good days great.
> 
> <3


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> During normal times, when we're allowed to meet up with other people and all that stuff we all took for granted until six months ago, I am a theatre kid. With this third chapter, we reach the end of Act I of this story! We all knew what was going on with Eliott, and now Lucas will know too. No more dramatic irony! 
> 
> Who's up for some communication, and two boys in love? *raises hand*
> 
> <3

It was Lucas’ day off, and he’d spent most of it catching up on school projects. He hadn’t made as much progress as he’d hoped for, though. If he was honest, he was distracted way too often by a pair of stormy grey eyes.

He and Eliott still talked when he came to the coffee shop, but even more often, they texted each other. Sometimes they just sent silly memes, but sometimes they actually talked about their days, their lives, and kept texting for hours.

It was time for Lucas to have a long and honest conversation with himself about the extent of his feelings for Eliott. He didn’t think ‘liking’ was cutting it any longer. Maybe ‘really, really liking’ was a bit closer to the truth… but really it was still not enough, was it?

Lucas hid his head in his arms and moaned.

He was so fucking stupid.

After his silly crush on Emile, he now had to fall for his twin?

Although he’d never felt as strongly about Emile as he did about Eliott.

And this wasn’t just a crush on any old handsome guy.

Sure, Eliott was handsome. Hot, gorgeous, effortlessly beautiful.

He was also smart, and talented, and witty when he wanted to be, and honest. And he was also so incredibly sweet and gentle. He was kind towards everybody, except himself.

He just wanted to protect Eliott, wrap him in a thousand blankets, hold him, cherish him, make him feel all the joy and happiness he deserved.

He hated the way Eliott seemed to think of himself as a burden, a problem. When other customers came up to the counter, he’d somehow seem to shrink, as if he was afraid he’d be taking up too much space. He even didn’t like to ask Lucas for things that were literally his job to provide, like a napkin. His voice got even quieter, his hands would fidget with whatever he was holding, and he’d sound so damn apologetic.

He also thought about Emile’s cryptic statements, about all the stuff Eliott had gone through, or that time Eliott didn’t come to the shop for about a week.

Lucas felt Eliott needed all the care Lucas could provide, and it still wouldn’t be enough.

~~~

Eliott had asked a few days ago whether Lucas had any plans for the weekend. As usual, whenever he asked something, Eliott had sounded almost rueful. So Lucas had quickly answered in the negative, without even checking, figuring if he did have plans with his friends, he could cancel them. Then Eliott had asked, hesitatingly, about that time Lucas had offered to come make some tea over at Eliott’s, and Lucas’ heart had started beating so fast he thought he might have broken a record.

And now here they were. Eliott had stopped by right as Lucas’ shift had ended, and they had walked over to Eliott’s place together. Lucas was nervous for some reason, and it didn’t help that Eliott didn’t seem to be a lot calmer.

Lucas was ushered into the kitchen, and true to his word, he started making some tea. He had no idea why Eliott had wanted to invite Lucas, and he turned around, leaning against the kitchen counter, waiting for the water to boil.

Eliott stood near the table, staring at something on it, though Lucas couldn’t make out what.

“You probably wonder why I asked you to come over,” he said suddenly.

Lucas hummed, and Eliott continued: “I wanted to… I thought I should tell you about that time I didn’t come to the shop for a while.”

Lucas sucked in his breath.

“You don’t have to, though, Eliott, you know that, right? I mean, if you want to, I’d be glad to listen, but you don’t have to tell me if you’re not a hundred percent sure you want to.”

“No… I want to. I’m just afraid you’ll hate me once I do.”

Oh, god. Lucas wanted to tell Eliott he could never hate him, that in fact, he thought he could easily love him, but he sensed Eliott didn’t need that right now. So he nodded, and said calmly: “Okay, why don’t you go sit down, I’ll get us some tea, and then we can talk. I don’t think I’ll hate you, Eliott, whatever it is.”

Eliott complied, sitting down on the couch, and accepting a mug of steaming tea from Lucas. Lucas sat down in the armchair, and drank his tea, waiting for Eliott to start speaking.

“So, when I – when I didn’t come by that week, I – I just couldn’t. I was… I had an episode.”

Lucas waited for him to explain, but Eliott remained silent.

“An episode?”, he prodded gently.

Eliott put his arms around himself, and his face fell. He seemed to shrink into the couch, and didn’t look at Lucas. His voice was barely above a whisper when he finally spoke.

“I have a mental disorder. I’m bipolar.”

Oh.

Lucas had not expected that.

Then again, it was definitely not the end of the world, contrary to what Eliott seemed to believe, if his demeanor was any indication.

“Okay,” he said, calmly. “And?”

Eliott’s head whipped up.

“What, and? It’s horrible, Lucas. It means –”

“What do you mean, it’s horrible? Okay, sure, it’s not something you’d wish for. But it’s not like you’re dying, Eliott!”

Eliott now looked upset.

“I might as well be! I’ll have to deal with this for the rest of my life, Lucas! And so will anybody who is a part of my life.”

“I still don’t understand why this is so terrible for you, Eliott. Lots of people have a mental illness. They manage just fine.”

Eliott scoffed.

“Like you would know. You have no idea what it is to deal with somebody who can’t even leave his bed for weeks on end, Lucas. You have no idea what it is to live with a lunatic.”

Lucas jumped up, getting frustrated.

“Oh, no? My mom is schizophrenic, Eliott. My dad left us when I was fifteen and I took care of her all by myself. Granted, it became too much for both of us and she went to live in a care facility after a while, but don’t tell me I have no idea what I’m talking about, Eliott!”

Eliott had sunk back into the pillows as if Lucas had hit him. _Fuck_ , Lucas swore under his breath. He went over and gingerly sat down next to Eliott, touching his arm.

“I know what it’s like, Eliott. It’s not always easy, you are right. Sometimes I go visit my mom and she doesn’t even know who I am. But most of the time she is just a wonderful mother. She loves me, unconditionally, and I love her. So you have this thing. It’s not all that different from diabetes, is it? You have to take meds every day for the rest of your life, and sometimes, even if you take them faithfully, something will go wrong and it will take a bit of time and effort to get everything on the right track again. It’s not as bad as you believe, Eliott. You are still you.”

He looked at Eliott, and cursed again when he saw tears trickling down on Eliott’s face.

“Shit, Eliott, I’m so sorry… Don’t cry, please…”

He wrapped his arms around Eliott, not thinking, just wanting to be there for this sad, strong boy, who carried the weight of the world on his shoulders.

Eliott sobbed into Lucas’ shoulder, and Lucas just held him, murmuring soft words into Eliott’s ear, caressing his back, running his hand through Eliott’s hair, until the sobs subsided.

“I’m so sorry, Eliott… I shouldn’t have reacted like that… Please, don’t be mad at me.”

Eliott looked up at him, his eyes big and clear with unspilled tears.

“No, Lucas… You don’t have to apologize. Did you really mean what you said? About your mom? About it – about it not being such a bad thing?”

“Of course. Why would I lie about that?”

Eliott remained silent for a long time.

“My ex, she – she said I was impossible to live with. We’d been together for five years, Lucas, and she said nobody could love a crazy person.”

“First of all, you are not crazy, or a lunatic, Eliott. Please don’t refer to yourself as such anymore, because it is simply not true. And secondly, she was wrong. I swear she was, Eliott.”

“I don’t know… If she couldn’t stick around, why would anybody else? We were already together when I first got diagnosed, back in high school, and things were good between us. But then things changed. She changed. I guess I did, too… I did some stupid things when I was manic, Lucas, and she kept saying I made her life a living hell. And then she started controlling me. Counting my pills to make sure I was taking them. Checking up on me every minute of every day. Waiting for me at my therapist’s office. If I was five minutes late, she’d be all hysterical, ready to call the police. Whenever I said something she didn’t like, she blamed it on my bipolar. When I stayed up late painting, she said I was getting into an episode. She made everything about just that, Lucas. It didn’t feel like there was much Eliott outside of the bipolar.”

Lucas wanted to shake this girl, to scream in her face about how damaging her actions had been, how much she’d hurt this beautiful, gentle creature in his arms. Spitting in her coffee was not going to cut it. Maybe spitting in it and then throwing it in her face, he vaguely thought.

“And then she – she cheated on me, Lucas. She – she said she couldn’t handle it, that she always had to take care of me, that she wanted to be taken care of too. That she found somebody else, somebody better than me.”

“God, Eliott. It sounds like if anybody is insane, it is her, seriously.”

“Maybe not, Lucas. She – she went for a better version of me. Me, but without the bipolar, without the failed bac, without the depression and the crazy episodes and all the shit those come with. That’s what she went for, Lucas.”

He looked at Lucas with intent. It took Lucas shockingly long to grasp what he was saying, but when he did, all the blood left his face at once.

“She… she… you’re saying she dated Emile?”

“Not dated. Dates.”

“Holy fuck,” Lucas whispered.

Eliott laughed, bitterly.

“You can say that again.”

“Lucille is your ex?”

Eliott hummed.

“She cheated on you with your own twin?”

Eliott nodded, a flash of self-depreciation flitting over his face.

“Why wouldn’t she? I don’t blame her. She could have me, but without all my baggage.”

“Stop, Eliott! It is not your baggage, it is who you are! Maybe your bipolar is what helps you create your art. Maybe it’s what makes you so empathic. Maybe it’s what makes you so gentle and caring. Maybe it’s what’s makes you like tea, and raccoons, and weird flavour combinations. Maybe it’s what makes you thoughtful and brave and smart and patient and honest. She doesn’t have all that, with Emile.”

Eliott shrugged.

“She also doesn’t have depressive Eliott, not showering for a week. Or manic Eliott, not sleeping for days.”

“Still. Not sure she got the better end of the deal, there, Eliott.”

“So you wouldn’t choose Emile, if you could?”

Eliott’s voice was very, very still.

“I wouldn’t. You are my friend. I wouldn’t give you up to be friends with him. I’ll have to spit in Emile’s coffee, next time. How could he do that to you?”

It hurt a little, calling Eliott his friend, when he would be some much more for Eliott, if he could. But Eliott needed him right now, and damned if he wasn’t going to be here for Eliott.

“You really don’t have to. He was in love with Lucille even before I was, when we were kids. I suppose he’d never really gotten over her. He tried to tell her no, when she came to him, but well… She can be convincing, when she wants to. He had accepted she chose me a long time ago, but when she told him she’d chosen wrong and she wanted to be with him, he couldn’t deny his feelings any longer. It was hard, I can tell you that. I didn’t speak to him for almost a year. But he’s my twin. He knows me better than anyone. So we talk, now. Sometimes. We just don’t mention Lucille.”

“Okay, if you don’t want me to, I won’t spit in his coffee. But I will glare at him disapprovingly, when he comes in next.”

Eliott laughed, a brittle, watery laugh, but to Lucas, it was the most wonderful sound in the world.

Lucas continued, softly.

“You deserve to be listened to, Eliott, and you deserve to be loved. You have a right to be here, you have a right to be who you are.”

Eliott started crying at those words, but Lucas knew he needed to hear them. He grasped that Eliott had somehow internalized all the complaints he might have received about being too much, too loud, too impulsive, too chaotic, too wild – and turned them into a prison for himself.

As the sobs subsided, Lucas went over to the couch and gingerly put his arms around Eliott, who immediately melted into him. Lucas caressed through his hair softly, wishing he could take all Eliott’s pain away.

“You are not too much, Eliott. You are enough. You are allowed to be exactly who you are.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As always, please feel free to point out any errors!
> 
> And comments are the applause of theatre kids who can't perform because of deadly pandemics, y'all.
> 
> <3


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Everybody ready for Act II?
> 
> Did I say Lucas was sweet? 'Cause fuck, that boy is like, sweet!
> 
> <3

Eliott had not given any sign of life for five days, and it worried Lucas to no end. Since he’d told Lucas about his mental illness and the story between him and Lucille, they’d been in contact almost non-stop, in the coffee shop, or by text. Lucas checked his phone again, re-read the messages he sent over the last days.

**Lucas**

Hey, Eliott. Missed you at the shop these past few days. Just wanted to let you know.

**Lucas**

Eliott, is everything okay?

**Lucas**

If you need anything, just let me know.

**Lucas**

Eliott, can you please let me know you’re okay if you can? Just send me an empty text if you need to.

**Lucas**

I’m here for you if you need me. 🤍

The last one was sent this morning before his shift started, no reply. At least Eliott had read it, which was reassuring. His first text, three days ago, had only been read after 24 hours. By now he had a pretty solid idea of what was going on. He almost asked Emile, who had been in earlier, but he decided not to. Emile didn’t know Eliott had told him about what happened. So Lucas was left here, staring at his conversation with Eliott, hoping against hope a reply would pop in.

Today was Sunday, meaning he didn’t even have any real plans which might take his mind of Eliott.

“Hey, what are you still standing around for? Your shift ended, like twenty minutes ago!”, he heard Maya say.

On an impulse, he grabbed a couple of tea bags. Maybe Eliott wouldn’t want to see him. But maybe he would, and Lucas wanted to be there for him in any way he could. And if that was just making some tea for him, then that was what he was going to do.

Ten minutes later, he was knocking gently on Eliott’s door. He didn’t hear any sounds inside. Maybe Eliott was sleeping. Maybe he shouldn’t have come here. He shouldn’t have assumed he could come up unannounced, uninvited, just because he thought Eliott needed help. Eliott was a grown man who could take care of himself. Shit. Lucas shouldn’t have tried to intrude. Eliott would let him know if he wanted to see Lucas. He should leave. Eliott had a right to not answer, he had a right to not come to the coffee shop, he didn’t owe it to Lucas to keep him posted about everything in his life. Lucas should go.

Just as he turned around to leave, the door opened. Eliott stood on the other side of it, clearly exhausted, looking so endlessly sad and small, wearing boxers and a wrinkled, dirty t-shirt, his hair clumping together in strange knots, his eyes duller than Lucas had ever seen them. He shivered, and mumbled, barely audible: “Lucas? Why – why are you here?”

Lucas’ heart clenched at the sight of Eliott, beautiful, loving Eliott, shrunken into a shell of himself.

“I just – I can go if you want – I shouldn’t have – I’m not checking up on you, I swear! I just – I have tea – I was wondering if maybe you’d want some. It was a stupid idea, I’m sorry, I’ll just go –”, he rushed out, garbling the words, trying desperately not to put his arms around Eliott and infuse him with his own strength and all his care for this boy.

Eliott remained very still, and Lucas felt impossibly guilty. Of course, Eliott didn’t want him here. Lucas was intruding, at a time when he knew Eliott was at his worst.

“I’m really, really sorry, Eliott. I’m gonna go now, okay?”

As he turned for the second time, ready to retreat, Eliott finally spoke up in a weak, raspy, quiet voice.

“Best damn tea ever?”

Lucas turned on his heels, and he couldn’t help the grin that spread over his face. Eliott still looked absolutely beat, but Lucas saw the tiniest hint of a smile on his face, and it made him want to jump for joy.

“Obviously. Want some?”

“Please,” Eliott mumbled, stepping aside for Lucas to come in. He motioned for Lucas to follow him, as he shuffled to the kitchen and sank down on a chair near the table.

Lucas busied himself by finding the kettle, putting it to boil, and locating a couple of mugs. Then he turned towards Eliott, leaning against the counter.

“I missed you. I was worried about you.”

Eliott didn’t look up.

“Sorry. Saw your texts – didn’t have energy to reply. Didn’t mean to make you worry.”

“Hey,” Lucas interjected softly, “you did nothing wrong. I saw you read them, so I knew you were alive. Sorry I came barging in without an invitation.”

“Is okay… Glad you’re here.”

Lucas’ heart soared, and he wanted so much to take all of Eliott’s pain away.

“You look tired, and cold. Why don’t you go lie down under a blanket somewhere? I’ll come find you in two minutes with the tea, okay?”

“Can’t move… Help me?”

Oh, god. Lucas would walk through fire to help this boy.

“Sure. Here, lean on me.”

Together they shuffled to Eliott’s bedroom, where Eliott sank down to the bed as if he’d just ran a marathon.

“Eliott? Would you like me to get you a clean shirt?”

Eliott hummed.

“Sorry. I probably smell.”

“That’s no big deal. I just thought you’d be more comfortable.”

Not looking up, Eliott nodded almost imperceptibly.

“Thanks. I will need help.”

Lucas nodded back at him, and rummaged through Eliott’s dresser until he found some T-shirts. He went over to the bed, and gently pulled Eliott into a sitting position, supporting him with one arm, while carefully taking off his dirty shirt with the other.

“Lift your arms, sweetheart.”

Shit. The endearment slipped out against Lucas’ will. Eliott didn’t react, though. Maybe he hadn’t noticed, but at least he did lift his arms obediently.

Lucas managed to peel the shirt off Eliott’s body, and for just a second, he stared at him, half-naked, his collarbones, his sternum, his abs. Then he shook himself out of his dazed state. _Fuck, Lucas. Eliott is not well, stop lusting over him._ Quickly, he pulled the clean t-shirt over Eliott’s head and told him to lay down again, which he did. _Thank god he didn’t ask me to help change his underwear._ Lucas tucked the blankets tightly around Eliott, and stood up.

“Stay?”, Eliott asked, his voice very small, as if he was expecting Lucas to refuse, as if he hardly dared to ask for anything, as if something inside him told him he didn’t deserve good things.

Lucas was convinced this boy deserved all the fucking goodness and kindness and softness and happiness in the world. Lucas was not going to refuse him anything.

“I’ll just get the tea, okay? I’ll be right back.”

When he got back to the kitchen, the water was boiling and Lucas had two steaming mugs of tea ready in no time.

He carried them to the bedroom, where Eliott was sitting up, burrowed into his blankets, and reached for a mug.

Lucas sat down next to him, both leaning against the headboard, their hands wrapped around their tea, sipping slowly. The silence stretched between them, not awkward, but rather like another warm blanket, enveloping the two of them into their own little bubble.

After a while, Eliott spoke.

“Thank you for coming.”

Lucas simply nudged Eliott’s shoulder slightly in reply.

“Would you – would you stay a while?”

Lucas hummed.

“I’m not going to be good company. I’m really tired… but I just think it would be nice to know you’re here.”

Thrilled, Lucas took the empty mug out of Eliott’s hands, and sat it down next to his own.

“Let’s watch a movie on your laptop. You can fall asleep whenever you want. Sound good?”

At Eliott’s nod, Lucas went to get the laptop and sat back down next to Eliott, who had slunk down to a lying position.

“Maybe it’s more comfortable if you lie down too?”

Lucas laughed, and did as suggested.

“Are you – are you cold? You could come under the blanket, if you want… I mean, you don’t have to…”

Lucas looked at Eliott. He was sure Eliott would be able to read all the love he hid inside right on his face, but right now, he didn’t care. He carefully crawled under the blanket, feeling Eliott’s body tensed and anxious next to him.

“Do you want me to hold you?”, he asked hesitatingly.

Eliott’s eyes shone with unshed tears as he hummed.

“Please.”

And so Lucas shuffled closer, until there was no space left between them, and wrapped his arms around Eliott, leaning him against his chest, Lucas’ chin on the top of Eliott’s head, trying to pour all his love into this wonder of a boy.

They had never been so close. For Lucas, it was not nearly close enough. But this was not about him. This was about Eliott, and making him feel safe.

Lucas guessed he succeeded when Eliott fell asleep before the opening credits rolled by on the tiny screen.

He spent the next two hours completely ignoring the movie, instead staring at Eliott, sleeping peacefully in his arms.

Lucas wouldn’t change a thing about Eliott. He was so incredibly kind, and soft, and he cared so much. Lucas’ hand moved without any conscious decision on his part. He combed through Eliott’s hair tenderly, not caring about the grease he felt under his fingers, and softly stroked over Eliott’s jaw. All he could think about was pressing his lips to Eliott’s warm skin.

All of a sudden, Lucas realized what he was doing, and he pulled his hand back as if it was burned. He really shouldn’t do this. Here he was, taking advantage of Eliott, who had no idea what was going on. Lucas had no right to touch him like this. Eliott had never given him his consent.

God, Lucas was a right mess. A perverted creep. He was supposed to comfort Eliott, help Eliott, not make things awkward for him.

But every second he held Eliott, he just fell deeper and deeper. Eliott was not just a friend Lucas cared about.

Eliott was everything.

It was time for Lucas to fully accept the fact that he was completely, irrevocably in love with Eliott.

He didn’t know how or when it all had started, he just knew there was no going back.

And that just made things even more difficult. Eliott did not love Lucas the way Lucas loved Eliott. Eliott was straight, and quite possibly still in love with his ex-girlfriend, who was now dating Eliott’s brother.

Why, why, why did he always do this? Why could he never fall for anybody who might be interested in him too?

He knew the question was futile, though. Eliott moved in his sleep, his eyelashes fluttered for a moment against his pale skin, and Lucas felt it deep inside him.

He’d just do anything for this boy. Regardless of the fact Eliott would never feel the same for him.

~~~

“Lucas?”

Blinking his eyes open, Lucas woke up slowly, a bit confused.

Eliott’s hand was lying on his shoulder, where he obviously had shaken Lucas lightly.

Eliott?

Why was he waking up next to Eliott?

Then he realized he was not in his own bedroom.

Slowly, he remembered coming over to see Eliott, making tea, watching a movie together, holding Eliott so closely in his slumber. He must have fallen asleep himself.

“Oh, god, sorry, Eliott! I didn’t mean to fall asleep. Wait, what time is it?”

“It’s about dinner time. And don’t worry, it’s okay. I… I’m glad you’re still here.”

Eliott’s eyes were soft, and something Lucas didn’t recognize shone in them.

“You are?”

“Yeah… I felt so safe when I woke up, and I didn’t know why, until I realized you were still here. You didn’t have to stay, Lucas. I couldn’t have been good company… I haven’t showered in days…”

Eliott started to curl in on himself, make himself as small as possible, trying to get as far away from Lucas as possible. Lucas _hated_ it. Eliott was so fucking amazing, nothing should ever make him feel like he wasn’t even worth the space he was taking up.

“Hey. Hey, Eliott, it’s okay. I chose to stay. I wanted to stay. All I wanted was to try to make things a bit easier on you, okay?”

Eliott smiled, tentatively and small, but to Lucas, it felt like the sun had come out.

“Are you feeling a bit better? How about some dinner? I can make something, or I could order some take-out?”

Eliott nodded.

“I’m not very hungry, though. I know I should eat, but…”

“That’s okay. How about I heat up some soup and make some toast? Or make you a few sandwiches?”

“Soup and toast would be great…”

“I’ll get that going. And some more tea?”

Eliott nodded again. His eyelids were droopy.

“Do you want to take a shower while I get it ready? I can bring your food here when you’re done.”

Eliott looked at him with a raw apology in his eyes.

“I don’t know if I’m up for it… I’m sorry, I know I should, but…”

“Hey, there’s no should about it. If you’d rather take a nap and wait for the food, then that’s exactly what you should do.”

Eliott hummed, and closed his eyes.

Lucas took it as his cue to go get some food ready.

When he came back in the bedroom a short while later, carrying a tray with a bowl of soup, some toast on a plate, and a cup of tea, Eliott sat up. He hadn’t showered, but he’d managed to change his boxers and his t-shirt, discarding the old ones next to the bed. Lucas smiled.

“Here, eat something. I’ll put these in the laundry, together with your shirt from this morning, okay?”

“You don’t have to…”

“It’s okay, I don’t mind.”

“Will you not stay with me while I eat?”

Lucas thought his heart might explode at the small question. On impulse, he kissed Eliott on top of his head.

“Get started, sweetheart. I’ll put these in the laundry basket and I’ll grab some water, and I’ll be right back. And then I’ll stay with you until you fall asleep, okay?”

The gratefulness radiated from Eliott’s slumped body.

“Thank you… you are an angel.”

Chuckling, Lucas shook his head. He did as he had told, and in no time was back, sitting next to Eliott on the bed. Eliott had not started yet, and without overthinking it, Lucas grabbed the spoon, and fed Eliott half of the bowl of soup and a piece of toast, before Eliott shook his head, indicating he’d had enough.

It was so intimate, sitting in the darkening bedroom, feeding Eliott, communicating without words. Lucas felt so much at home here that he had to keep telling himself he didn’t belong.

It was so horribly bittersweet, and suddenly he needed some distance. As soon as Eliott finished his tea, he took the cup out of his hand and placed it on the nightstand.

“Sleep some more, Eliott. I’ll wait until you are asleep, and then I’ll have to leave. But if you want, I’ll come back tomorrow after class, or the day after.”

Eliott seemed a bit upset when Lucas talked about leaving, but he settled in the pillows without answering.

“Okay. Thank you for today, Lucas,” he said softly, his eyes shining again. “Maybe by tomorrow night, I’ll be better. And if not, I’d be so happy if you came back.”

Lucas nodded, and Eliott was asleep in a matter of minutes.

Lucas stared at him for a bit longer, before he forced himself to get up.

He washed the plates and the cutlery Eliott had used, and went to check on him one last time.

Eliott was fast asleep in the middle of his bed, wrapped in countless blankets.

All Lucas could think about was that his heart was hidden somewhere underneath those covers too, before he turned around, willed himself not to cry for the beautiful boy struggling in there, and left with lead in his feet.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please feel free to point out any errors.
> 
> And you should also leave me a comment. To thank me for sweet Lucas. 😉
> 
> <3
> 
> PS Question! To tumblr or not to tumblr? Discuss.


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you all got enough fluff in chapter 4, because well, here is all that angst I promised.
> 
> <3

Eliott came in and put something on the counter.

“What’s that?”, Lucas asked curiously.

“It’s… it’s for you. To thank you.”

“Really? Thank me for what? I didn’t do anything.”

“You did…”, Eliott said, slowly, a bit uncertainly. “You came over when I was down, you made me tea and toast, you held me even though I was dirty and smelly, you stayed with me, you took care of me.”

“Oh, that,” Lucas shrugged, “that was really nothing extraordinary. Anybody could have done that.”

“Yeah, maybe, but you did. So I wanted to thank you.”

Eliott pushed a folded paper over the counter to Lucas, who took it and opened it. On it was a drawing of a raccoon, looking sad and lonely in a mountain of blankets. Next to it, was the same raccoon, but now with stars in his eyes, being held by a hedgehog. The third and last panel showed the raccoon, alone again, but with a smile on his face, sleeping, dreaming of the hedgehog, who held tea and toast in his hands. The tagline read: “Thank you for saving me, my hero hedgehog.”

Lucas stared it at, his heart pounding in his chest. It was so fucking beautiful, and he couldn’t look away from the starry-eyed raccoon.

“I’m sorry, it’s – it’s not much,” Eliott interrupted Lucas’ thoughts, “it’s stupid, really, you can throw it away or something if you want –”

“Throw it away? Have you lost your mind?”, Lucas asked, incredulously, folding the paper closed again and pressing it to his chest. “I’m hanging this on my wall. It’s beautiful, Eliott. Thank you.”

“You… you really like it?”

Lucas nodded fervently, and put the drawing carefully on the top shelf, so it wouldn’t get wet or stained. It was obviously the right thing to do, because a breath-taking smile appeared on Eliott’s face. Lucas’ felt himself melt, his eyes go soft.

“So I am a hedgehog?”, he asked, to mask his feelings.

Eliott hummed, and grinned.

“Why?”, Lucas asked, genuinely wanting to hear Eliott’s reasoning behind it.

Eliott looked down, and hesitated.

“Because you are small and you have spiky hair.”

“Hey!”, Lucas yelled in faux anger. “I am not small! I’ll give you the spiky hair. I’m just too lazy to brush it in the morning.”

Eliott grinned.

“You _are_ small. But I don’t mind. You are cute, too, and so, so fucking sweet. The sweetest, smallest, spikiest hedgehog there is.”

And for that, Lucas had no reply ready, so to keep his blush hidden from Eliott, he turned around and started fiddling with a tea bag.

But the blush stayed long after Eliott had left, and it came back every time Lucas unfolded his drawing.

~~~

Emile leaned on the counter as Lucas was making his coffee. His voice dropped as he asked conspiratorially: “So, Lucas, tell me. How is it going in the love department?”

Lucas groaned and hid his face in his hands as he placed Emile’s order on the counter. It had been two weeks since Eliott’s episode, and Eliott and he had been back to their normal routine of hanging out near the end of the counter whenever the coffee shop wasn’t too horribly busy and sending each other texts during the days. A new addition, however, was that they sometimes called each other late at night to share how their day had been. It was all perfectly nice and friendly, and every time Eliott left the shop, Lucas wanted to pull out his hair in despair.

He was so far gone for Eliott it was increasingly hard to keep up their friendly conversations, and after every phone call, Lucas laid awake for hours, desire and excruciating longing coursing through his veins.

“Oh, fuck, don’t even mention it. I am such a fucking idiot.”

“Ah, come on, it can’t be that bad, can it?”

Lucas lifted his head and threw Emile a fierce look.

“Worse than bad. And I’ve got only myself to blame. Why do I keep falling for straight guys?”

“Ah,” Emile clacked his tongue understandingly. “That would be a problem, indeed. Are you sure he’s straight or are you just assuming?”

“His ex is very definitely female, so I’m pretty damn sure.”

Emile threw his hands up in mock despair.

“You know better than that, Lucas! Surely you’ve heard of this new thing, it’s called bisexuality? Just because a guy has had a girlfriend once in his life doesn’t automatically mean he’s straight.”

At that, Lucas couldn’t do anything but laugh out loud.

“You are right. By that way of reasoning even I would be straight.”

Emile laughed too.

“See? All hope is not lost. He could be bi, he could be pan, he could have realized after being with a girl that it was beyond time to come out of the closet. Give him a chance! Talk to him, and if he turns out to be straight as a ruler, you’ll still have time to start lamenting your woes.”

“You’re right. I mean, I could just ask him how he ticks. I don’t have to make a big declaration of love out of it, but at least I’ll know whether I stand a chance or not.”

“Perfect! I’m sure things will turn out fine. Unless of course…”

He pretended to pull a sad face, but his eyes were twinkling. He clapped his hands to his heart.

“Lucas,” he intoned in what was meant to be a solemn tone, but was in fact a barely controlled giggle, “Say it isn’t true. You realized your crush on me was not just a crush, but indeed true and everlasting love, didn’t you? Man, in that case, you _are_ out of luck, because I am indeed straight as a ruler, and taken on top of that.”

Lucas hit Emile in the arm, and they both dissolved in a fit of laughter.

“Asshole. A good thing too, you being straight, because I pity whoever has to put up with you for longer than ten minutes at a time,” Lucas retorted, glad he and Emile could joke about Lucas’ old short-lived crush. “Speaking of which, my Emile quorum for today is full. Take your coffee and go.”

He almost pushed Emile out of the door, both of them still laughing uncontrollably. As he stood in the door opening, Lucas however got serious when he thought he recognized somebody walking away fast.

But why would Eliott not have come in? It must just have been somebody looking like him, Lucas mused, while still hearing Emile’s laughter as the latter walked away in the opposite direction.

Whatever the case, though, Eliott did not come by that day.

~~~

**Lucas**

Hey, Eliott, everything okay? Missed you these past few days.

**Eliott**

I won’t be stopping at the coffee shop anymore.

**Lucas**

What? Why? Did something happen? Was it your ex? Are you okay? Let me know how I can help.

**Lucas**

Eliott, what’s up? Do you want me to come by?

**Lucas**

I came by. You weren’t there. Could you let me know if everything is okay?

**Lucas**

Eliott?

**Lucas**

I stopped by again, were you really not at home? I thought I heard movement inside.

**Lucas**

I left you some tea, in case you feel bad.

I can come make it for you, too. 🤍

**Lucas**

I really miss you. Please let me know what’s going on.

**Lucas**

Eliott, it’s been almost two weeks. What is the matter? Can you please contact me? I can come over if you want. Or we can meet wherever.

**Lucas**

Please, Eliott, just reply. I’m worried about you and I miss you so fucking much.

**Lucas**

Why won’t you open the door? I know you’re in there.

Why don’t you want to see me anymore?

**Lucas**

I left. I don’t know what’s going on, Eliott. I miss you. I don’t know what happened. Whatever it is, please, can we just talk about it? I’ll always be there for you, you know that, right?

**Lucas**

Eliott, I fucking miss you like hell. This is ridiculous. I deserve to know what is going on. Text me.

**Eliott**

Please stop texting me. And please don’t come by anymore either.

Just leave me alone. I don’t want to talk to you ever again.

**Lucas**

What? Eliott, what is going on? Did I do something wrong?

**Lucas**

What did I do?

Tell me what’s wrong.

Please, don’t just ignore me.

Eliott, please.

Don’t cut me out of your life like that, Eliott.

Please.

~~~

The past three weeks had been hard on Lucas. He had been increasingly worried about Eliott’s radio silence, and he hadn’t been sleeping well. But now he almost wished for that low, undetermined buzz of worry back. It was better than this cruel good-bye, without any reason or explanation. Since he received what seemed to be Eliott’s final texts, he had been crying all night. So this morning, his eyes red and swollen, exhausted and sad and upset, Lucas was not in the mood for Emile.

“Hey, Lucas! I wanted to talk to you about your possible next boyfriend! Have you asked him yet whether he is straight or not?”

Lucas bit his lip to refrain from crying again. He didn’t think he had tears left, but the familiar prickling in his eyes proved the opposite was true.

“No need. He doesn’t want to see me anymore,” he answered, curtly. “What do you want?”

He hoped that would be enough of a hint for Emile to lay off, but unfortunately, Emile was not inclined to let things go.

“Oh, Lucas, I am so sorry. But hey, it’s his loss. If he doesn’t realize how amazing you are, he’s a moron anyway, and I don’t think I’d allow you to date a moron, Lucas.”

Lucas forced a small watery smile on his lips, as he asked for Emile’s order again. Luckily, this time he seemed to have gotten the hint, as he asked for a large butterscotch latte with extra hazelnut. Lucas took his time making it, wiping his eyes with the back of his hands as he thought about Eliott, who definitely was not a moron.

He wished Eliott would at least tell him what Lucas had done wrong. The only thing he could think off, was that he had somehow been way too obvious about his feelings, and scared Eliott away. Eliott was unavailable, and Lucas knew that. He would rather be friends with Eliott, though, pining over him in the safety of his own bed, than having Eliott disappear completely. Maybe he should have been honest with him, told Eliott about his feelings, and urged him that nothing needed to change in their relationship. Now Eliott probably felt all awkward and didn’t want to be around Lucas anymore.

Lucas was the moron in the story, not Eliott.

All he could think about was Eliott.

Some new street art appeared near the coffee shop, and Lucas remembered Eliott being all excited about spray painting in some abandoned buildings. Lucas had no idea what any of it meant, but Eliott had sounded so enthusiastic, showing Lucas picture after picture on his phone, that Lucas would have happily listened to him for days, lost in his sparkly eyes.

Maya had been a couple of minutes late one day, on a calm, grey Monday, when business had been slow and Lucas had been forced to confront his own thoughts – all about the same subject – for far too long, and he had snarled at her, almost ruining their easy friendship. He’d apologized, and she had accepted it, but Lucas had felt like the lowest scum for days.

A song would come on the radio, a song that reminded him of Eliott – _everything_ reminded him of Eliott – and he’d almost crumple on the spot.

Somebody came into the shop and actually ordered tea. Lucas had almost cried. In all his months, only one other person had ever ordered a tea. He’d spilled the first cup he’d made, his hands trembling so badly, and the customer had been impatient and rude, and Lucas had bitten his bottom lip so hard he’d actually drawn blood. He’d left as soon as Maya had shown up, and tortured himself by rereading all of Eliott’s messages until he’d thrown his phone against his bedroom wall, cracking the screen. It had felt like a great metaphor for how he felt, somehow, and Lucas had drawn some masochistic relief out of following the crack with his finger. He’d had it repaired a couple of days later, thinking this was where the metaphor reached his limits. His heart wouldn’t be so easily glued together.

It didn’t matter how often he told himself to get over Eliott, that he needed to respect Eliott’s wishes, that Eliott had decided he was better off without Lucas – he just couldn’t seem to move on.

He’d had crushes before. Yann, some unnamed guy in his maths class, Emile. He’d even gone on some dates, a few times, with perfectly nice boys, but nothing ever came of it. Now he knew why. Now he also understood why it hadn’t mattered when he had found out Emile had a girlfriend, or why he’d accepted Yann could never be his, after the first bout of jealousy when he started dating Emma. None of it had meant anything. This, whatever he felt for Eliott, was a thousand times stronger, a thousand times bigger, and a thousand times louder.

Every day he found himself opening up his and Eliott’s conversation, typing out a long message in which he poured out his heart, confessed his feelings, begged Eliott to answer him – but every day he erased it again before he could hit send. On sunny days, he found himself in front of Eliott’s building sometimes, his finger hovering over the doorbell, before he forced himself to leave.

His friends started to leave worried messages after he blew them off the third time in a row. He spent his weekend night on his couch scrolling through social media with unseeing eyes. What was the point of going out? Of arranging to hang out with his friends? He only wanted to see one person, and that one person didn’t want to see him. Ever again, according to his message.

Lucas would have to accept that at some point, he knew that. But for now, everything was raw and exposed, and he couldn’t rush things. He was grieving – grieving Eliott’s and his friendship, grieving the tiny sliver of hope he’d had that somehow, they could have ever ended up becoming more since Emile had planted the seed in Lucas.

He realized he was hanging on to something that was lost. But he just couldn’t let go. Eliott was all he ever dreamed of, and now he was gone. It hurt like hell. It felt like a limb was torn of Lucas’ body.

Whoever had said it was better to have lost and loved than never having loved at all, they were the biggest moron of all.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Feel free to point out any errors.
> 
> And comments are like mouth masks for writer's block, so yeah, just saying.
> 
> <3
> 
> PS I'll try to get chapter 6 up later today. Can't promise anything at this point, though!


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> End of Act II, intermission!
> 
> <3

Lucas knew he wasn’t fooling anybody. His friends had resorted to yelling at him over voice message, demanding him to contact them. Maya came in right on time, and pretended to be busy straight off the bat, so she wouldn’t have to face a gloomy, snarky Lucas. Mika avoided him as much as possible, and even Lisa had commented on his bad mood.

He had barely slept these last few nights, and eaten little. He kept himself going with extra strong double espressos he was not supposed to drink during his shift, and then found himself jittery and on edge all day afterwards.

The caffeine made it hard to stay focused, which was a disaster in class, but at least somewhat eased his mind of Eliott. Although it never was hard to circle back around to him.

Lucas still hadn’t figured out a way to fix things. He kept going over everything, wishing he’d find a clue somewhere as to where he messed up.

The only person who might be able to help him, was Emile. But he didn’t dare to ask for his help. First of all, that would mean coming clean about his feelings for Eliott. And secondly, and maybe even more important, he didn’t want to come between the twins. Eliott had told him how hard they had been working at finding a way to mend their relationship, and how much it meant to both of them to have their brother back in their lives. He couldn’t ask Emile to risk that to help Lucas. He’d never forgive himself if his actions caused a rift between the twins, possibly hurting Eliott even more.

It was hard, but Lucas would have to accept it. He’d have to wait for Eliott to make the first step of contacting Lucas again. Even if it killed Lucas to be patient, he had no other choice. And he could wait. He would wait. As long as it took.

He didn’t even let himself think about what he would do if Eliott never came back.

~~~

Emile came in right as Lucas’ shift was about to end.

For the briefest moment, Lucas’ heart jumped, before he realized who had entered the shop.

It was ironic, really. He remembered what Eliott had told him, months ago, how Lucas would smile whenever he thought he saw Emile, only to recognize Eliott. Oh, how the tables had turned.

“Hey, uhm, Lucas?”

Lucas grumped as he handed Emile his drink.

“What?”

“I, uh, didn’t want to bother you, since you, you know, have your own issues going on, but, uh…”

Lucas tapped his fingers on the counter impatiently.

“Just spit it out, man.”

“I was just wondering, uhm, how Eliott is doing?”

Lucas’ head whipped up, his eyes big and blue.

“What? Why are you asking me that?”

It hurt, just hearing Eliott’s name. He had been spending his days wondering what he did wrong, his nights either sleepless, agonizing about whether Eliott was okay, or in restless dreams in which Eliott smiled at him, all sunny and warm, and leaned in to kiss Lucas’ lips – which never happened because Lucas would wake up with a jolt, his body sweaty under the blanket.

“I – I just – well, the thing is, he doesn’t want to talk to me anymore…”

Wait, what?

Lucas stopped fidgeting and looked at Emile, suddenly worried for Eliott. Fear crept over his spine, cold and wet.

“Eliott doesn’t want to talk to you anymore? Why? Since when?”

“Uh, since about a month ago, I think? I don’t know what happened. I mean, he has his reasons to be angry at me, but I thought he’d mostly forgiven me recently, but then one day I called him and he just… exploded. He said I was a piece of shit and he didn’t want anything to do with me ever again.”

“And you didn’t do anything to warrant that?”

Emile hesitated, and Lucas pounded.

“Emile, fuck, what did you do? Did you hurt him again – I mean, did you hurt him somehow?”

“God, I don’t think so! As I said, I have fucked up big time in the past, and maybe he decided he couldn’t forgive me after all, but I don’t know why all of a sudden! Fuck, Lucas, he’s my brother. Just tell me he’s okay. You don’t have to break his trust and keep me updated, but I just want to know he’s doing well.”

Something was wrong. Eliott must have gotten hurt somehow. Emile must have done something wrong, and Lucas got caught in the middle of it. They needed to figure this out, and make things right. Lucas only wanted to solve things with Eliott, to have Eliott in his life again, to be allowed to be near Eliott and listen to Eliott talk and laugh and watch his eyes crinkle with joy.

He needed to get to the bottom of this.

“Okay, wait a minute. Go sit down. I’m gonna clock out and we’ll talk.”

Emile nodded, and Lucas never got out of his apron faster.

~~~

“Okay. Tell me everything,” Lucas stated forcefully as he slid into the booth opposite Emile. “What did he say, when was this, what is going on?”

“I already told you, Lu,” Emile said. “I have no idea what happened. And honestly, I don’t need you to work things out between Eliott and me, I just want you to tell me he’s okay.”

Lucas laughed bitterly.

“Why do you assume I would know?”

“Aren’t you his best friend?”

Lucas scoffed. Yeah, right.

“Well, I doubt he feels like that.”

Emile seemed confused.

“Really? But I could have sworn…”

“Sworn what?”

Emile took a deep breath before he continued.

“It’s just that he was always talking about you. He would tell me about how you and he had been hanging out, or about how you came to make him tea, or how the two of you picnicked near the Eiffel tower. He told you about his bipolar, hell, he even let you in during one of his episodes, Lucas. He hardly ever lets anybody come near him when he’s down. And he was smiling way more often than before, Lucas. To be honest, I thought, I mean, I think – well, he may have a thing for you…”

Lucas, who had been hiding his face in his arms, jolted back upright. He must have misunderstood that.

“What? What did you say?”

“Shit, he’ll never forgive me for telling you… I think he may have a crush on you, Lucas.”

“But… What are you talking about? Eliott is straight, Emile!”, Lucas almost yelled. This was just torture. Were the twins just pulling some cruel prank over him?

“What? No, Lucas. Why are you saying that?”

“He told me about – about his ex-girlfriend…”

“Lucas, Eliott is pansexual. He’s known since we were teenagers he didn’t care about gender. He’s kissed guys before, although I’m not sure if he’s ever been in a relationship with one.”

Lucas’ mouth fell open, and he felt his eyes bulge. He wouldn’t be surprised if his cheeks were pink, either. Eliott was into guys? Maybe Lucas had a chance after all – wait, no. It didn’t matter. Eliott didn’t want to see Lucas anymore.

Emile stared at Lucas while Lucas’ thoughts tumbled through his head.

“Lucas – wait… Are you… When you told me about liking this boy who you thought was straight… because he used to date a girl… Were you – did you mean Eliott?”

Lucas felt his face grow red, and he dropped his eyes to his hands, which were fiddling with a napkin. He didn’t have to answer, because his face and his actions spoke clearly enough.

“Lucas… but that is wonderful! Eliott is not straight, and as I said, I think he is into you too, and you’d be so amazingly good together!”

Lucas lifted his eyes, again, blazing, and scoffed, interrupting Emile rudely.

“Emile, he is not into me, believe me. Did you forget what I told you the other day about my crush? He doesn’t want to see me anymore. I don’t even know why, he just sent me a text that I needed to fuck off.”

Emile’s face grew serious all of a sudden.

“Fuck. Do you think – maybe it’s an episode?”

“For nearly a month? He said they’ve never lasted longer than a week, at the most. Besides, I’ve been to his house at least five times. He doesn’t let me in. Last time he had an episode, he let me in. I left tea in his mailbox, and I think he hasn’t even picked it up.”

“Fuck. You are right. Something serious must have happened. Why would he suddenly refuse to talk to either of us?”

“I honest to God have no fucking clue. I have constantly been trying to figure out what I did wrong. All I got was a text asking me to leave him alone. We need to figure this out, Emile,” Lucas stated, determination lacing his voice. “Tell me exactly what he said to you.”

“Just what I already told you. That I am a piece of shit, that he didn’t need enemies with me for a brother, and when I would finally be satisfied with how much I ruined his life.”

And wow, that was… harsh. It didn’t sound like Eliott at all. Eliott and Emile had found a sort of cease-fire co-existence over the past months, and Eliott had confided in Lucas that he was glad to have his twin back in his life, that he had missed him during all those months of no contact. Something must indeed have happened to shatter all that so brusquely.

“Wait, Emile, when was this? When was the last time you guys had contact before he told you all that?”

“I don’t know exactly, Lu… About a month ago… Why?”

“It’s just… that’s around the same time he started ignoring me, and stopped coming by here too…”

Lucas racked his brain. Something was trying to bubble up, a small detail, something he had noticed but hadn’t paid attention too, hadn’t deemed important somehow…

“Wait a minute… There was this time where I thought I saw him walk away, but he hadn’t been in the shop… I remember thinking it was weird that he wouldn’t at least come in and say hi… I think I haven’t seen him since.”

“Maybe I made him angry, and he assumed you would pick my side? That’s why he didn’t want to come in?”

“No, wait, you were here! I was seeing you off when I thought I saw him.”

“Well, as we already assumed, I probably upset him then. He didn’t want to come in because he saw me.”

Lucas tried to remember. Something still didn’t add up.

“But then why didn’t he come in at any other point? Why did he refuse to answer my texts, refuse to let me in, or even open the door when I went to see him?”

“Shit, I don’t know…”

Lucas thought back to that day. He tried to retrace his steps. He had walked with Emile to the door. Why? He didn’t do that often. He had been pretending to chase Emile off, that’s why. Why had he been doing that? He’d been joking that he’d had enough of Emile, because Emile had been teasing him… teasing him about…

Fuck.

He felt all the blood drain from his face when he looked at Emile.

“Shit, Emile. I know what happened. That day… He must have heard us… You were talking about me having a crush on you. Fuck.”

Emile’s face was mirroring his own, pale and stricken.

“Shit. Shit, Lucas, are you sure?”

Lucas shrugged.

“I mean, I didn’t see him entering the shop, so I’m not sure he overheard us, but I’m fairly certain it was that same day when I saw him walk away, and I’m definitely sure I haven’t seen or heard from him since, except when he told me to leave him alone.”

Emile shook his head.

“Oh, fuck, that must be it. That’s bad, though, Lucas…”

Lucas nodded.

“I know. I mean, if you are right, and he was somehow into me… and he thinks I am into you… Fuck.”

Emile went quiet.

“Lucas… you have no idea how bad.”

“I do. He told me about Lucille. He must think I’m just another person he cares for who prefers you over him.”

“He told you about Lucille? What – but – when did he – how – oh, fuck it. That’s not important now. We need to fix this.”

“Yeah, but how? He doesn’t want to talk to either one of us! Fuck, Emile. You and your fucking big mouth! You fucked up any chance I might ever have had. He’ll never believe me now when I tell him I love him.”

Silence fell.

“You love him?”

Shit.

“Oh, fuck. I didn’t mean to tell you that before I even told him! But yeah…”, Lucas’ voice went soft, and somehow a smile found its way to his lips, “I do. I’m in love with Eliott.”

Emile smiled too, seeing Lucas soften at the mere thought of Eliott.

“Okay, damn, we are gonna make things right, Lucas. I don’t care if we need to kick down his door, or put an ad on tv, or whatever, but we are fixing this. You and my brother belong together.”

Lucas could only hope he was right.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Act III is going to be so full of fluff you'll all explode with it.
> 
> Please feel free to point out any errors.
> 
> And as to comments: y'all know the drill.
> 
> <3


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I realized the next 36 to 48 hours are pretty busy and I may not have the time to post... but ain't nobody willing to wait that long for Elu to get together, right?
> 
> So here is chapter 7! I'm sure you'll forgive me for minimal proofreading.
> 
> The fluff is gonna be coming, people, just you wait.
> 
> So who would be willing to suffer physical pain to get with the love of their life? Lucas, obviously.
> 
> <3

Lucas read Emile’s message again. It had been two weeks since Emile had promised him they were going to fix this shit, two weeks of torture, of wondering whether Eliott was indeed into him, whether he might ever have a chance with him, whether Eliott would ever listen to Lucas, let Lucas explain. He felt slightly nauseous that today might finally be the day.

**Emile**

Eliott has an art class today from three to five. It has cost me literally blood, sweat, and tears to find that out, so we are not wasting our shot. Meet me at four fifty at the library.

It was only four forty, and Lucas was supposed to be in a physics class right now, but fuck physics, if there was even the slightest possibility of seeing Eliott, talking to Eliott.

The library was next to the Arts department, and Lucas kept an eye on the big double doors on top of the few steps leading into it. Students bustled around, some sat on the steps soaking up the few rays of sunlight, some were rushing to class carrying big folders, undoubtedly filled with sketches. Lucas wondered if any of them knew Eliott.

He fiddled with the cup of tea in his hand. It was stupid, a paltry peace offering, a silly bribe in the idle hope it would sway Eliott, convince him to hear Lucas out.

Emile suddenly appeared next to him.

“Hey,” he said, sounding as anxious as Lucas felt. “Ready to do this?”

“God, no,” Lucas exclaimed honestly. “I have no idea what to say, how to make him listen. What if he turns around as soon as he sees me? Maybe this is a bad idea, Emile… He doesn’t want this…”

Lucas knew he was panicking and starting to spiral. But what if showing up here only made things worse? Eliott had asked to be left alone, who was Lucas to ignore Eliott’s wishes?

“Stop, Lucas,” Emile broke through his muddled thoughts. “You’re right, he probably doesn’t want to see us. But he also doesn’t want to keep thinking you don’t care about him, believe me. And you don’t want him to keep thinking that either. So we have to ignore his demand to stay away, Lucas. We have no other choice.”

Lucas knew Emile was right, but it didn’t settle well with him. Eliott deserved to make his own choices, not to be forced to do anything just because other people felt it would be better for him.

“Maybe we should wait for him to come around, though, Emile. We are going against his wishes and taking away his agency.”

“Lucas. What if he never does? What if he gets into another depressive episode thinking he is all alone? What if he decides he has nothing to keep trying for?”

Lucas knew Emile was emotionally blackmailing him. He also knew Eliott was a whole fucking lot stronger than Emile gave him credit for, but fuck, it was working. Suddenly Lucas got afraid and wanted to see Eliott immediately, make sure he was fine. He looked at his phone again. It was two after five. If Eliott’s class hadn’t run longer than it was supposed to, he should be out any minute now.

Lucas ignored the ball of nerves in his stomach, and thought about Eliott – beautiful, bright Eliott. He’d do anything to get that Eliott back in his life.

Suddenly, Emile nudged Lucas in the ribs with his elbow.

“There.”

Eliott looked every bit as awful as Lucas felt. He had purple bags under his eyes, which looked dull and leaden, and reminded Lucas of the empty glaze in them during his depressive episode. His face was pale, drawn, and he didn’t look up, focused instead on his shuffling feet. He was walking alone, not paying attention to his surroundings, not acknowledging anybody.

His hands were stained with black and blue paint, and suddenly, that image made Lucas’ throat constrict, and tears sprang into his eyes.

Everything in Lucas screamed out to run towards Eliott, to wrap his arms around him and pour all of his love into the broken boy. If Eliott looked like this because of him, he would walk through fire and crawl over broken glass to beg him for forgiveness.

When Eliott came closer, Lucas’ heart broke.

“Eliott,” he called, softly, gently.

Eliott’s head whipped up, honing in on Lucas, and for the briefest moment, his grey eyes lit up. But then he saw Emile standing next to Lucas, and his features hardened, and he turned around without a word.

“Eliott, please,” Lucas begged, starting to walk after him, motioning to Emile to wait.

Eliott didn’t stop, didn’t slow down, gave no impression of having heard Lucas.

Lucas ran to catch up, and turned in front of Eliott, forcing him to stop walking.

“Leave me alone, Lucas!”, Eliott snapped, and turned again, only to be faced with Emile who had taken a few steps towards him, now blocking Eliott’s route of escape.

Lucas touched Eliott’s arm carefully.

“Eliott? Please, can we talk? I brought tea…”

He reached the cup in his trembling hands towards Eliott.

Eliott’s eyes now flashed with hurt and barely veiled anger. He smacked Lucas’ arm out of the way, causing the hot tea to spill over Lucas’ hand, who immediately dropped the cup to clutch at his wrist with his other hand, whimpering in pain.

Another flash passed through Eliott’s eyes, this time of contrite, of guilt, of compassion; but as Emile caught up to them, they went back to their cold and impassive stare.

“What are the two of you doing here? I thought I was clear! I don’t want to see either of you anymore!”

Lucas let go of his wrist and pleaded again, “Eliott, no, please, just listen…”

“I heard enough!”, Eliott suddenly exploded, his anger now clearly visible on his face.

“I heard the two of you, talking about you being in love with him!”

He turned towards Emile, fury in his eyes.

“Haven’t you done enough? Do you really have to ruin everything that’s good in my life? And why the fuck are you stringing him along like that, when you know you won’t ever like him back? Or are you gonna dump Lucille and discover you are gay, now?”

Lucas whimpered at Eliott’s cold, cruel words, but Emile calmly crossed his arms in front of his chest.

“Okay, brother, I get that you’re angry at me. But be angry for the right reasons. Be angry at me for what happened with Lucille all you want. But don’t you go accusing me of stringing Lucas along when he hasn’t even had the tiniest feeling for me in a fucking long time. Maybe you should be angry at yourself, you are the one who ghosted him without giving him a chance to explain himself.”

Eliott’s anger dissipated somewhat against Emile’s wall of calmness and reason.

“Talk to him, Eliott. And don’t hurt him any more than you already have. I may deserve your hatred, but he has done nothing but be there for you since day one.”

With those words, he looked at Lucas, trying to tell him without words that everything would be okay, and left.

Eliott stared after him for a few minutes, and then turned around to face Lucas, whose wrist was by now red and blistery.

“Oh, God, Lucas, your hand! You need to take care of that! I’m so sorry, I shouldn’t have done that…”

“It’s okay…”

“No, Lucas, it’s not! That’s a serious burn. You need to have it looked after right now!”

“No,” Lucas stated firmly. “No. I am not going anywhere until you have listened to what I need to say.”

“Fuck, Lucas!”

Eliott ran a hand through his hair in despair.

“Okay, fuck.”

Eliott grabbed Lucas’ other hand in his and dragged him along to the restroom, where he held Lucas’ burnt hand under the tap.

“I promise I will not leave, but we are getting this looked after. The nurse’s office is two minutes away. I will listen to you as soon as this has been treated and bandaged properly. No discussion.”

Lucas nodded meekly. If he was honest, the boiling tea had indeed burned him severely and his wrist hurt like hell. And if Eliott promised he would listen after getting first aid, he would do so. Eliott would not come back on his word. And the cool water did feel like heaven on his skin.

After a couple of minutes, in which they stood side by side, not speaking, Eliott grabbed his other hand again, and took him to the nurse’s office.

Lucas found this bossy and forceful side of Eliott rather sexy, but he was too light-headed from the pain to really pay attention to it.

All the time while the nurse was fussing over his wrist, Eliott stood aside, silently fuming with every word out of the nurse’s mouth.

“This is not a light burn, young man! You should really thank your friend for running it under water to stop the heat. You should have done that immediately! A few more minutes and this could have been a lot worse. This is why everybody should learn the basics of first aid, I keep saying that. You could have ended up in the hospital with a burn like this, if you left it untreated. I’ll put some ointment on it and bandage it. Please keep it clean and covered. You’ll need to get some balm and apply it twice a day for the next couple of days, and if the skin remains blistered, you really need to go see your doctor, okay?”

Eliott laid it onto Lucas as soon as they closed the office’s door behind them.

“Did you hear that? You could have needed hospital care if we hadn’t come here! Why did you need to be so stubborn?”

Lucas shrugged.

“I needed to talk to you.”

“God, fuck, Lucas! I am the one who caused this!”

Eliott’s anger seemed to be focused more on himself, as he carefully touched Lucas’ bandage and frowned at the sight.

Lucas took a deep breath.

“Okay, yeah, you did. But I ambushed you, after you told me to stay away.”

“You’re in pain… because of me.”

“Yeah, but this pain will go away. I was in pain because of you for the past month and a half and it wasn’t gonna go away until I got to see you, talk to you, explain to you that –”

“You don’t need to explain. I know what’s going on. I heard Emile say you are in love with him.”

“But I am not! Eliott, god, I never was! I may have had a tiny crush on him, more than a year ago, before I even knew you, but it went almost as fast as it came!”

“You are not in love with him?”

“I’m not, Eliott.”

Eliott scoffed.

“I wouldn’t blame you, you know. Everybody loves him. He’s smart and funny and charming and he looks good. Why wouldn’t you love him?”

“You are also smart and funny and charming and you look good. Why wouldn’t I love you, then?”

Eliott turned away, laughing bitterly.

“You don’t have to mock me, Lucas! You are not that cruel.”

“I’m not mocking you! I’m just stating the truth!”

“I am not funny and charming. I am angry and standoffish and I am bipolar. I am nothing like him. Even my own fucking girlfriend preferred him over me. It’s only logical you would too.”

“But I don’t! God, Eliott, don’t you understand? I’m in love with you!”

“Don’t joke about that stuff, Lucas,” Eliott said, slowly, softly, strained.

“Shit! And you’re calling _me_ stubborn!”, Lucas exclaimed, now genuinely upset.

He took a step closer to Eliott and stood on his tiptoe, his undamaged hand coming up to Eliott’s face and grabbing his hair, and he pressed his lips to Eliott’s.

It was short, and Eliott didn’t react, but for Lucas, it was still like he finally got everything he’d dreamt of these past months.

“I’m fucking in love with you. I don’t care if you believe me or not. I’ll prove it to you, if I need to.”

Eliott didn’t reply, didn’t move. He just stood there, staring at Lucas, who felt crimson stain his cheeks, but willed himself to hold Eliott’s gaze, a challenge in his eyes.

He had no idea how long they stood there, in the hallway by the nurse’s office, being passed by countless students, staring into each other’s eyes.

Finally, it was Lucas who broke first.

“Well?”

It seemed to break the spell.

Eliott’s eyes started roaming Lucas’ face, until they landed on his lips.

“You’re not in love with my brother?”

“No, you idiot!”, Lucas said, hotly, exasperatedly.

“You’re in love with me?”

Lucas bit back the sarcastic retort that sprang to his lips. Instead, he just nodded, his eyes on Eliott, willing him to see the truth of his words in them.

“I’m in love with you. I’ve been in love with you for a while.”

“God, Lucas…”

Eliott licked his lips, and it did things to Lucas.

Suddenly, Eliott leaned in and pressed his mouth to Lucas’, immediately trying to deepen the kiss. Lucas opened up for him willingly, and as Eliott licked into his mouth, he let out a moan which would have embarrassed him had he not been so overwhelmed by Eliott’s kiss. His blood seemed to scream _Eliott, Eliott, Eliott,_ _Eliott, Eliott, Eliott_ as his heart pumped it erratically through his veins.

Eliott grabbed Lucas’ hands, and Lucas jumped back, breaking the kiss, whimpering.

“Ouch! That hurts!”

They both looked at the white bandage on Lucas’ wrist, having forgotten all about it.

“God,” Eliott breathed, panting a bit, guilt flashing over his beautiful features, “I am so sorry, Lucas. I was an ass.”

“Hey, it’s okay. I already forgave you, and besides, I said it already, I was not completely innocent.”

“I didn’t mean about your hand, although I am really, really sorry about that too. I mean about refusing to talk to you… not letting you in when you came by, not answering your calls…”

“You are forgiven.”

“I don’t deserve you. You did nothing wrong… I was such an idiot.”

Lucas didn’t really want to dwell on it.

“You were not. You were hurt.”

Eliott took Lucas’ hand carefully in his.

“Yeah, I was hurt. I heard Emile say you had feelings for him…”

“We figured that out, finally. He was just joking, though, Eliott, I swear.”

“I shouldn’t have just left… But I thought I needed to protect myself. In case you couldn’t tell, I’m in love with you too.”

Lucas laughed, loud and bright and clear.

“I was hoping you might be. It’s still good to hear.”

Eliott laughed too, quieter, but not less joyfully.

“I’m in love with you. That’s why I felt so bad… It all seemed to repeat itself, I was so crazy about you, and then when I heard that… It was Lucille all over.”

“I know. I’m so fucking sorry, Eliott. I promise you that I was long over him before I even met you. I actually felt so stupid for falling for you, because I thought you were straight… In fact, it was Emile who told me you weren’t, but by that time you had already told me to leave you alone… I hated the idea that you were mad at me.”

“I wasn’t mad at you. I was never mad at you. I told myself I needed to stay away from you because you would never return my feelings, but I wasn’t mad at you. It… it made sense, I know he’s a great catch, he’s funny and cute and all that…”

“Not as cute as you.”

Eliott smiled and kissed Lucas gently.

“Thank you… I was mad at him, though. I thought he was toying with you… revelling in the fact that you were into him, stringing you along… I wanted to hit him for hurting you.”

Suddenly, all of his self-depreciation seemed to be back in full force.

“Turns out I was the one hurting you… God, Lucas, can you ever forgive me?”

“Eliott. I already did. I understand needing to protect yourself. We hurt each other. But no more, okay?”

Eliott shook his head.

“You never hurt me. It was all Emile’s fault, anyway.”

Lucas laughed again.

“Okay, let’s go with that, then. It was all his fault. I’ve been wanting to slap him for hurting you since you told me about Lucille, anyway.”

Eliott didn’t react immediately, seemingly struggling to say something.

“Eliott? What is it? No more secrets, okay?”

Eliott’s smile could blind the sun.

“No more secrets. I was actually wondering… Would you want to come home with me?”

Lucas smiled back at him. It felt like his face might split in two, that’s how wide his grin was.

“To do what, Mr. Demaury?”, he teased. “If you wanted tea, you’re out of luck. I’m not going anywhere near boiling water again today.”

“Damn. Well, then you’ll have to find something else to cheer me up, I guess.”

Lucas loved Eliott’s banter, this confident and playful side to Eliott mesmerizing him. It was as if they had done this for a thousand years, so familiar and homey, yet exhilarating and exciting at the same time.

“I think I might have an idea. Let’s go.”

And as they walked away, their fingers intertwined, Lucas thought he would burn every millimeter of his skin willingly for this feeling.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please feel free to point out any errors!
> 
> And leave me a comment. I am never too busy to not read comments.
> 
> <3


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you're wondering why I didn't add the first scene of this chapter to the last chapter, well, so am I. I guess I fiddled with them so much to get them somewhat even in length that I fucked up. But I guess it doesn't matter so much in the long run. 
> 
> Okay, so we have:  
> \- some fluff  
> \- Eliott being strong & Lucas being supportive  
> \- Elu being ridiculously in love & confident in each other's love  
> Hope you'll enjoy!
> 
> Only one more chapter after this!
> 
> <3

Lucas found himself in Eliott’s bed again, but this time he didn’t need to scold himself for touching Eliott. This time he had permission to touch to his heart’s content, to kiss until he had his fill, to drink in Eliott until he drowned in him.

And so he did.

He had no idea how long they had been here, laying in each other’s arms, their kisses alternating between languid and passionate, their fingertips finding pathways over each other’s bodies, murmuring love confessions into each other’s skin.

It had grown dark in the room, but Lucas ignored it, not wanting to let real life intrude just yet. It seemed however that Eliott had other ideas.

“Lucas…”, he whispered between pecks on Lucas’ shoulder blades. “Please say you’ll stay.”

“What do you mean?”, Lucas whispered just as quietly. “Stay… the night?”

Eliott hummed.

“The night… To start with.”

He looked at Lucas bashfully, and Lucas couldn’t help but laugh.

“To start with?”

Eliott didn’t answer, just continued kissing Lucas anywhere he found accessible skin.

“Hmmm. I mean, I want you to stay forever, but I’ll settle for tonight.”

Closing his eyes, Lucas sighed in contentment, comforted by Eliott’s kisses and the blatant desire and honesty in his words.

“Usually I’d expect to be taken on at least one date before I sleep over…”, he murmured, not really intending to leave.

Eliott kept kissing Lucas, not taking Lucas’ bait, and Lucas melted into Eliott’s touch.

“Although I suppose I could make an exception this one time…”

His voice trailed off into a gasp, when Eliott bit lightly on his earlobe.

“I think you should…”

“What’s in it for me, though?”, Lucas managed to choke out while Eliott’s fingers teased at the hem of Lucas’s shirt and his lips sucked on the sensitive skin at Lucas’ collarbone.

“Hmmmm… Let’s see… How about a very, _very_ appreciative boyfriend?”

Lucas felt himself fall under Eliott’s spell easily, everything in him aching for Eliott’s kisses, until his brain suddenly caught up with Eliott’s words.

“Boyfriend?”, he squeaked.

Eliott stopped teasing Lucas, and sat up.

“Shit. Sorry, Lucas, I didn’t mean to blurt that out like that, or even at all right now. It is too early, isn’t it? We don’t have to call it that yet, I just… I want to be your boyfriend so badly…”

Lucas sat up too, embracing Eliott in a fierce hug.

“Me too. God, me too, Eliott, so fucking much.”

Eliott’s eyes teared up just a little, before Lucas kissed him with an intensity that surprised both of them.

“So… boyfriends, then?”, Eliott asked, just a tad apprehensive still.

“Boyfriends,” Lucas confirmed, his heart thumping against his ribs. “And well…. Boyfriends can spend the night together, right?”

“Right…”, Eliott said, sounding a bit overwhelmed. "They can. Please, stay, Lucas."

“You're going to have to kick me out, Eliott. I want to be wherever you are. I love you.”

“I love you too. God, I can’t believe you are really here. I dreamed about this for months… I just never thought I could have this… Have you…”

“You might come to regret it,” Lucas joked, and laughed when Eliott vehemently shook his head, and pulled Lucas closer in response.

They kissed, until kissing was no longer enough, and then they got even closer, their bodies fusing together as well as their hearts.

~~~

Lucas couldn’t help the smile on his face and the fondness in his eyes as he used both his hands on the counter as leverage to lean over precariously, so he could reach Eliott’s lips.

“Morning, baby. You’re just in time. My shift is almost over.”

“I know,” Eliott replied, pecking Lucas once more before the latter pulled back and started making his tea. “I was hoping you’d be free after your shift. I – I wanted to talk to you.”

Lucas turned back and studied Eliott for a moment.

“Is everything okay?”

“Yeah, yeah,” Eliott waved his hand dismissively. “Just wanted to talk to my boyfriend.”

Lucas tilted his head slightly, not entirely convinced, but still getting goosebumps hearing Eliott calling him his boyfriend, even after a month. Eliott looked a bit pale, and his eyes were serious.

“Hmmm. Let me finish this tea, I’ll make myself a coffee, and we can go to the park? Or would you prefer to find a table here?”

“Park,” Eliott immediately answered.

Lucas got the drinks ready, and called Maya from the breakroom.

“Maya? I know I have ten more minutes on the clock, but could you start a bit earlier today?”

Maya came out, ready to go, fastening her apron.

“I guess I could, Lucas, if there was a really good reason for it…”

Lucas grinned at her.

“There is. He’s tall and sexy and he’s waiting for me. Can’t run the risk of him walking out on me just because I have ten teeny-tiny pesky minutes left, can I?”

Maya laughed.

“Go. Otherwise I’d have to watch the two of you make heart eyes at each other for ten minutes anyway.”

She winked at Eliott, who sipped his tea and blushed a bit at her words – not that she was wrong, though.

“Thanks! You’re the best!”, Lucas enthused, untying his apron while giving Maya a peck on her cheek, smacking loudly, before he disappeared to the back. In less than a minute he had returned, backpack slung over his shoulder, grabbing Eliott’s free hand with one hand and snatching his coffee from the counter with the other.

Within minutes, they were sitting next to each other on a bench in the park.

“So, what’s up?”, Lucas asked gently.

Eliott didn’t really look at him, but fiddled with his hands in his lap.

“Baby?”

Lucas carefully put his hand over Eliott’s, stilling their nervous movements.

Eliott started speaking rapidly.

“It’s really not a big deal, I swear. It’s just – well, my parents have their 30th anniversary coming up… They’ve been begging for me to show up… I haven’t really been to any family gatherings since the whole Lucille thing, you know. But Emile must have told them we were talking again because my mom has been leaving voicemail messages saying the only thing she wants would be for the whole family to celebrate together and then that whole mess happened where I thought you were into him and I called her and I said I’d never set foot in the same room as him ever again and she sounded so sad even when she said she understood and now today I got the invitation in the mail and my dad attached a note to it that my mom would be heartbroken if I don’t come and –”

“Hey, breathe,” Lucas interrupted, softly.

Eliott took a deep breath and lifted his head to look at Lucas.

“I just – well, I think – I mean, I have to go, don’t I?”

Lucas thought about it. He didn’t want to give Eliott some throwaway answer. Eliott deserved to have his struggles taken seriously.

“Honestly, I don’t think you have to go if you don’t want to. But I also think that deep inside you want to go. And I am sure you are strong enough, Eliott, to go, and show everybody you are strong and happy and thriving. But I will not think any less of you if you decide it will be too hard and you need more time. You need to decide for yourself, you don’t owe anybody anything, not even an explanation. And whatever you think is best, I will be here for you. I will always support you, Eliott.”

Eliott opened his mouth. He seemed to struggle to get something out, and Lucas squeezed his hand encouragingly.

“Will you… would you go with me?”

Lucas lifted his hand from Eliott’s lap to his jaw, and turned Eliott’s head.

“I would be so fucking honoured, and proud.”

Eliott smiled.

“Would you still be proud if I hold your hand the whole time because I’m too afraid to do it without you?”

Lucas hummed, his knuckles stroking Eliott’s cheek.

“And when I refuse to even acknowledge Emile and Lucille?”

“Even then. Believe me already, you don’t owe anybody anything, Eliott. The only person you have to answer to is you.”

“And you. We are in this together.”

Lucas laughed, and pressed a kiss on Eliott’s temple.

“I’m just in it for you. I’ll do whatever you need me to do, be it offering emotional support, or shielding you from your ex, or telling everybody how awesome you are.”

“I know… but I didn’t mean we’re in this party together. We’re in _this_ together, in… in everything. We’ll do everything together. It’s not just this party I’ll only be able to handle with you by my side.”

Lucas slid onto Eliott’s lap and wrapped his arms around him, his throat constricted.

“It’s the only place I ever want to be, Eliott. I love you.”

“I love you too, Lucas. So fucking much.”

“Eliott?”, Lucas said after a while, which was spent making out in a way that was probably not entirely suited to a public park.

“I have to tell you something.”

As Eliott looked at him questioningly, he went on, “I already knew about your parents’ anniversary. Emile asked me to convince you to come.”

“What? Are you serious?”

Lucas hummed.

“But I refused.”

“Really? Why?”

“Because I am on your team, Eliott,” Lucas answered simply. “I always will be on your team.”

Eliott’s arms tightened around him.

“How the fuck did I get lucky enough to have you?”

Lucas shrugged.

“I ask myself the same question every time I get to kiss you.”

~~~

The celebration had gone without a hitch. There had been speeches and toasts and Lucas had met so many of Eliott’s family members he couldn’t keep track, but all in all, it had been a good night. They were having their after-dinner coffee, and the conversation had mostly reached a lull as everybody was full of delicious food and the hour grew late.

Eliott had held his hand through most of the festivities, and other than a short greeting, they hadn’t seen a lot of Emile. He was currently seated next to Lucille on the other side of Eliott’s parents, and seemed nervous somehow. Lucas didn’t really understand what that was all about, considering the evening was nearly over and everything had gone better than anybody expected. But he didn’t have too much time to think about it, being too distracted by Eliott’s foot rubbing up and down his calf under the table. He couldn’t wait to get out of here and get Eliott all to himself.

Then Emile cleared his throat.

“Mom, dad, once again, congratulations on your anniversary. Eliott and I are lucky to have you as our parents. With the two of you as an example, I think I might be adequately prepared. Maybe one day, I will be able to celebrate my 30th anniversary myself.”

“Well, son,” Mr. Demaury intoned jokingly, “you seem to have forgotten one thing. In order to reach an anniversary, you first have to get married!”

He laughed in his deep baritone.

Emile did not laugh along, however.

“Actually… Lucille and I wanted to tell you something…”

He lifted Lucille’s hand, and something flashy sparkled on her fourth finger.

Mrs. Demaury gasped, and everybody went quiet.

As in slow motion, everybody’s eyes went from Lucille’s ring finger to Eliott. Mrs. Demaury looked anxious, Emile afraid, Lucille guilty, and Lucas was sure his own eyes were full of worry. He hoped that Eliott would also see the love there, and the confidence Lucas had in him.

Eliott looked back at him, and grabbed his hand under the table.

Then he looked over to his brother and said, his voice calm, if somewhat toneless, “Congratulations.”

It seemed like everybody could suddenly breathe again in relief. Lots of felicitations were voiced by different people, Emile and Lucille laughed under the attention, and hugs were given and received in good spirits. Lucas didn’t pay attention to any of all that, his eyes not wavering from Eliott’s face, now shining with nothing but love and endless pride. Eliott looked back at him, squeezing his hand hard.

“Let’s go,” Lucas whispered.

Eliott nodded, and in the chaos of everybody wanting to congratulate the happy couple and admiring Lucille’s ring, nobody noticed the two of them standing up and slipping away to the patio of the venue.

As soon as the doors closed behind them, though, Lucas wrapped his arms around Eliott.

“I am so fucking proud of you, you have no idea!”

Eliott hid his face in Lucas’ hair for a moment. Then he looked at Lucas with determination clear on his face, cupping Lucas’ face in his hands.

“I don’t give a fuck. You know that, right, Lucas? I don’t give a fuck about them getting married. I only give a fuck about you.”

Lucas felt tears welling up in his eyes, but he laughed, overflowing with joy.

“I don’t care about anything else.”

Eliott sounded fierce, staring into Lucas’ eyes.

“I don’t care about my cousin whispering I only brought you here to pretend I was over Lucille. I don’t care about my mom gushing how beautiful Lucille looked today and then glancing at me guiltily as if I was gonna break or something. I don’t care about Emile being all evasive all night. I only fucking care about you. I love you. You are the only thing that matters.”

The tears now escaped Lucas’ eyes, and Eliott kissed them away, so endlessly gentle.

“So you don’t have to be proud of me, mon amour… Let them marry. I have something so much better.”

Lucas laughed through his tears.

“Not half as good as what I have,” he managed to get out, pressing closer to Eliott.

Eliott shook his head and opened his mouth, but whatever he wanted to say got lost when Lucas kissed him, deep and slow, licking into Eliott’s mouth with abandon.

He didn’t know how long they had been standing like that, one of Eliott’s hands wandering down to Lucas’ waist to pull him even closer, when they were startled by a small hum behind them.

As they turned around, they saw Lucille standing there, an apologetic smile on her face.

“Sorry to interrupt…”

“What do you want, Lucille?”, Eliott grumbled, not unkindly, but nevertheless there was a chill in his words that Lucas knew was foreign to Eliott. He didn’t let go of Lucas. Lucille seemed taken aback a bit, but then she smiled, a bit uncertainly.

“I just wanted to say thank you…”

“What for?”, Eliott inquired, still a bit curtly.

“Just… For being here tonight. For congratulating me and Emile without making a fuss. For forgiving me, maybe?”

Lucas scoffed. As if Eliott would make a fuss. This woman really did not know Eliott at all.

Eliott seemed to agree with him.

“I could still make a fuss, Lucille, so don’t count your chickens yet. As for forgiving you…”

He halted, and looked at Lucas. Lucas shrugged. It was Eliott’s choice, and he would not make it for him.

“I don’t know,” Eliott said. “Maybe one day. You said and did things that hurt me. You made me feel like I was not worthy of being loved.”

Lucas scoffed again, and Eliott melted a bit more into him as he continued.

“You almost made me lose my brother, the person I have been closest to my whole life. But I guess if you hadn’t, I wouldn’t be with Lucas now… and I think I’d have been willing to go through a lot more if it means I get to end up with him. So yeah, maybe. One day.”

“Well…”, Lucille dithered, “thank you, anyway.”

Eliott nodded, but he seemed to consider the conversation to be over, as he turned his attention back to Lucas, and kissed him on the lips again. They heard the doors open and close again, and Eliott let go of Lucas’ mouth.

“Ugh,” he said. “I really hope she doesn’t want to become best friends. Hello and goodbye are fine, but I could do without this kind of talks, to be honest. Is that bad?”

“Nah,” Lucas alleged. “You don’t owe anybody anything, remember?”

With an agreeing hum, Eliott pressed his lips to Lucas’ jaw.

“Except you. I owe you the world.”

Laughter bubbled up from somewhere deep inside Lucas.

“Good thing you give it to me every day, then.”

~~~

That night, as Lucas was laying sated and happy in Eliott’s arms, he thought about Eliott’s words. How if Lucille hadn’t broken up with Eliott, the two of them might not have been together now. He wondered how it would have been, to start working at the coffee shop, and see Eliott and Lucille come in, happy together, Emile tagging along. How Eliott would have showcased the same vibrant joy as Emile, because there would have been nothing that made him lose the light in his eyes. Maybe Lucas would have been attracted to Eliott from the beginning. Maybe he’d have a crush on Eliott instead of on Emile. Maybe he’d have fallen head over heels for Eliott, only to have Lucille come in one day with a similar sparkling ring on her finger, being put there by Eliott.

He shuddered, and almost involuntarily he burrowed closer into Eliott’s embrace.

Eliott’s voice was deep and warm.

“What’s up, baby?”

“Nothing…”, Lucas hedged, but then decided to tell him anyway. “I was just thinking about what you said to Lucille. About what would have happened if you and she hadn’t broken up and you would have come into the coffee shop together on my first day there. How I would have been crazy about you and not have been able to do anything about it.”

“Hmmm, I don’t know,” Eliott teased, but kissing Lucas’ hair nevertheless, “you’d have had a crush on Emile instead of me, right?”

Lucas tried to swat at Eliott, but Eliott’s arms around him were too tight, so he just smiled. Either way, he was glad they could joke about this now. It was a sign they both were confident in their love for each other.

“Shut up, you. I only crushed on him because I didn’t know you existed,” he said, not joking at all.

Eliott laughed, his eyes full of awe at Lucas' heartfelt statement, but then grew serious.

“I don’t know, Lucas. I have a feeling I might have fallen for you anyway. It feels like we belong together somehow. When I came in that first day, I saw you standing there, and everything else faded away. I only saw you. I have seen nothing but you ever since.”

“Maybe we are meant to be,” Lucas mumbled sleepily. “Maybe there are infinite Eliotts and infinite Lucases in infinite universes, all lying together like we are.”

It was a happy thought. He closed his eyes and pressed his lips to Eliott’s skin.

“But I’m still the luckiest,” he mumbled, half asleep.

He didn’t hear Eliott’s murmured, “No, I am”, but it followed him into his dreams.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please feel free to point out any errors.
> 
> And by all means, leave a comment! I'll be eternally grateful! 💙
> 
> <3


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Phew! So we have reached the end of the story. I'm still not too convinced about some parts of it, but hey, it's done! Over! Hope you'll like the fluff!
> 
> I think I lost sight of some parts of the plot a few times, but I hope it works out for you guys anyway.
> 
> Thanks for all the love and support and the feedback, it honestly is so wonderfully heart-warming to read what you guys think and feel about the story. Y'all are amazing. Thank you so much!
> 
> <3
> 
> PS Just because I apparently like torturing myself, I have this nagging plot bunny in my head about Exes getting back together. Somebody come save me from myself.

“Morning, Lucas,” Emile greeted him without really looking up from his phone. “Can I have a chai latte? God, this wedding planning stuff is enough to drive me mad. Word of advice, Lucas, if you and Eliott ever tie the knot, just elope.”

Lucas hummed appreciatively as he set down Emile’s cup.

“Thanks, Lu!”, Emile said and smiled at Lucas as he grabbed the drink. “Uh, Lucas, what happened to you? You look horrible.”

“Wow, thanks,” Lucas deadpanned, but he knew Emile was right. He was pale and the exhaustion radiating from him was palpable.

“Shit, man. Tell Eliott to leave you alone at night, will you?”

Emile burst out in laughter at his joke. Lucas joined him, but it wasn’t whole-heartedly.

“No, it’s… He’s having a rough time.”

Emile abruptly stopped laughing.

“Fuck. Sorry, Lucas, I had no idea. That sucks.”

Shrugging his shoulders, Lucas took a big gulp of his own coffee. He wasn’t really allowed to have a drink while he was working, but he hadn’t slept at all the past few nights. First Eliott had been manic, dragging Lucas to a bunch of abandoned buildings to spray paint and sketch, until the depression had hit him hard the day before yesterday. Last night he’d been weepy and clingy, telling Lucas he deserved so much better than him, claiming he needed to leave Eliott to go find somebody else. He hadn’t been able to reach Eliott, to tell him he’d rather be troubled by Eliott than not have him in his life. It had been rough on both of them, and a part of Lucas had been glad it had been time to leave for work, even though he worried about Eliott all the time.

“It will pass.”

Emile set his drink back down.

“How can I help?”

“It’s okay… I can skip my class later, if I need to… Besides, you have wedding planning stuff…”

Emile scoffed.

“Lucille can wait for a day. Eliott is my brother. I can go check up on him, if you want. You take some rest after your shift here, and go to your class. I’ll keep you posted if anything happens.”

Lucas hesitated. It did sound pretty much like a lifesaver, he had to admit, but he couldn’t ditch Eliott like that, could he?

“It’s really fine, Lucas. He wouldn’t want you to forget yourself. Like they say in the plane, put your own oxygen mask on first. If you’re worn out, you’re no good to anybody.”

It made a lot of sense, but Lucas just always wanted to wrap Eliott into bubble wrap and make sure the world couldn’t get to him. Then again, Eliott was the strongest person Lucas knew, and he could handle anything. He didn’t need Lucas to fight his fights for him.

Still, he just wanted his boyfriend to be taken care of.

But Emile loved Eliott almost as much as Lucas himself did. The twins had been texting occasionally since their parents’ anniversary, although they hadn’t hung out together. They were still working on mending all the rifts between them, the real and the imagined wounds slowly healing. They both wanted their brother back, and they were willing to put in the hard work to make that happen.

Lucas made up his mind.

“Okay. Tell him I love him and I’ll see him soon, yeah? And let me know the minute something happens.”

“Yes, mom,” Emile teased. Lucas flipped him off, but without much heat. Eliott was the most important person in his life, and if Emile wanted to tease him for loving his boyfriend, then fuck Emile.

~~~

Lucas came home after class to find Eliott in a much better state. He was out of bed, showered and in clean clothes, sitting on the couch with Emile, watching something on tv.

Emile had texted him a couple of times during the day, telling Lucas that Eliott was already a lot better when Emile had gotten to his flat, and they were just going to hang out. Lucas was just endlessly glad it had been a relatively short episode this time, if only because he hated to see Eliott suffer.

“Hi, love,” Eliott greeted him, moving towards the edge of the couch to make space for Lucas next to him.

Lucas dropped down gratefully, kissing Eliott slowly and melting into him with a tired but happy sigh.

“I’m glad to be here. It was a rough day and I’m beat.”

Immediately, Eliott looked guilty.

“I’m sorry… I kept you up…”

“We talked about this, baby. It is not your fault and you don’t ever have to apologize for anything like this. I love you. If I didn’t want to be here, I could have gone to my own flat.”

Eliott grinned a bit sheepishly. They both knew Lucas hardly spent any time in his flatshare anymore. Most of his stuff was at Eliott’s, he had a key, and they didn’t really ever willingly spend the night apart, so it was just a question of making it official. They’d get there, Lucas knew, but he didn’t really worry about it. Eliott and he were happy as they were, and they didn’t need anything else.

“So, did the two of you have fun today then?”, he asked, looking over at Emile as he leaned into Eliott’s embrace.

“Hmm, we took it easy,” Emile replied. “It was nice to take a few hours of rest from all the wedding planning and spend them with my favourite brother.”

It was testament to how far they had come, Lucas thought, that they could just talk about the upcoming wedding without flinching or guilty looks or concerns about hurting each other.

Eliott shrugged.

“You brought that onto yourself, Emile.”

“Yeah, I suppose I did… However, I need to ask you something… You can say no, but I really hope you don’t…”

There was a slight strain in Emile’s voice, and Lucas sat up a bit, ready to support Eliott, whatever was about to happen. Eliott however pulled Lucas right back against him, holding him tightly.

“Go ahead,” he said nonchalantly.

“Okay… I was just hoping… Would you be my best man?”

It was silent for a moment, and then Emile started babbling.

“I mean, obviously you don’t have to, but you’re my brother and my best friend, and I really want it to be you, but I’ll understand if you’d rather not, I just needed to at least ask.”

“Emile,” Eliott interrupted. “I’ll be your best man.”

“Really? I mean, okay, wow, that’s great. Thanks, man.”

Eliott shrugged, and then looked at Lucas.

“I’m gonna need you to return the favour, though.”

The world seemed to stop turning for a long beat, as Lucas sat frozen in Eliott’s arms and Emile’s mouth slowly fell open.

“Are you – are you guys getting married?”, Emile finally asked.

“God, I hope so,” Eliott said with conviction.

Emile’s gaze went back and forth between Eliott and Lucas, and Lucas slowly turned towards Eliott.

“Lucas, I know you deserve a grand fucking romantic gesture and a ring and a whole declaration of love, and I promise I can get you all that, but I just… I’ve spent the past days thinking about nothing but you and how amazing you are and how fucking lucky I am that you chose me when you could have anybody in the whole fucking world. I know we’ve only been together for a few months, but I know you are my world. You are the only person who matters, Lucas, and I want to spend the rest of my life with you. Please, please, please say you’ll marry me.”

Lucas turned around in Eliott’s arms, and he didn’t care about the tears in his eyes.

“I’ll choose you a million times over, Eliott. Every fucking hour of every fucking day for the rest of my life. Yes, I’ll marry you. I’d marry you right now if I could.”

The tears were flowing freely now, and Eliott’s face was all blurry, but when they kissed, he could taste the salty drops on Eliott’s lips as well, and then they both laughed through their tears, grinning against each other’s mouths, deliriously happy.

Emile interrupted them, and Lucas honestly had forgotten he was still there.

“I think this is my cue to leave you guys. But I’m so happy for both of you. And I will gladly return the favour, Eliott.”

Eliott nodded, but he didn’t let go of Lucas’ lips. Emile saw himself out.

~~~

Later that night, after they had thoroughly _celebrated_ their engagement, Eliott sat at the kitchen counter watching Lucas prepare some food.

“It was nice, hanging out with Emile today. I wasn’t up to do much yet, so we talked a lot, about when we were kids. It was fun.”

Lucas hummed.

“I’m glad. I felt bad, this morning, about leaving you.”

“Don’t you ever feel bad about that, Lucas. You have your own life. You don’t have to put it on hold to babysit me when I have an episode. Especially not when I keep pushing you away. I’m sorry about that, by the way.”

“Thanks, but you don’t have to apologize. It’s not you who’s pushing me away, it’s your brain. I mean, it’s not fun to hear those words, but I know you don’t mean them.”

Eliott came closer and hugged Lucas from behind, his chin resting on Lucas’ shoulder.

“Remember that time you came over when I was depressed? I was so in love with you, and I couldn’t believe you were real. I kept thinking I was dreaming you.”

“You were in love with me back then?”, Lucas asked.

“God, yes. I was in love with you long before that. But that day… I remember waking up, and you were asleep next to me, and I honestly thought I was hallucinating. Waking up next to you was so much fucking better than anything I ever imagined.”

Lucas laughed.

“I had no idea.”

“I was sure you’d figure it out. I was sure I’d been so obvious, begging you to stay, pleading for you to get under the blankets with me. If I had had any energy, I’d have ravished you there and then.”

“I was thinking the same… Cuddling up to you and falling asleep in your bed… I was certain you would put two and two together.”

“I did,” Eliott giggled, “and I got five, thinking you had something for Emile.”

“You artists are not supposed to be good at maths,” Lucas chuckled fondly, stirring the stew he was heating up.

“I guess. But anyway, that day, I did in fact hallucinate a couple of times. I kept dreaming about you calling me sweetheart. It… it did things to me. It felt so wonderfully safe.”

Lucas blushed and turned around in Eliott’s arms, hiding his face against Eliott’s shoulder.

“You weren’t imagining that… I did call you sweetheart. It just slipped out. You see now why I thought you would be on to me after that? I was so in love with you. I felt like a creep… I was holding you and all I could think of was kissing you…”

Eliott laughed.

“When I did the drawing afterwards, I almost gave the raccoon heart eyes instead of starry eyes. But I was afraid… I didn’t think you’d ever feel the same.”

“We wasted a bunch of time, didn’t we?”

Eliott nodded against Lucas’ hair.

“But we got here in the end. Thank god.”

“Thank god,” Lucas replied, and turned off the heat.

“Is the food ready?” Eliott inquired.

“No,” Lucas said. “But I am hungry for something else first, _sweetheart_.”

~~~

“It’ll be weird,” Eliott mused out loud, when they were finally seated at the kitchen table to eat, “to be standing at that altar next to Emile, watching Lucille walk down the aisle. For the longest time, I thought she and I would get married one day.”

Lucas turned, concerned.

“Are you sure you’re fine with it? You can always back out, you know.”

“Lucas, I love you, but you are an idiot. You should be more worried about me, about _us_ , if I didn’t do it, silly. I love _you_. So why would I be upset about being my brother’s best man? Who else would it be? It doesn’t matter who Emile marries, or who Lucille marries. I never gave it much thought before, but of course, I was always going to be Emile’s best man, whoever he ended up marrying. The only exception being if he ever tries to marry you.”

Giggling, Lucas came up for a kiss.

“As if I ever would marry him. He’s just the poor man’s Eliott.”

“God, Lucas,” Eliott kissed him deeply, slowly, unhurriedly, certain of their love. “How are you even real?”

~~~

Lucas kept glancing at the clock.

His shift was almost over, and Eliott hadn’t been in yet. Maybe he’d just run late on his way to his morning class, but still, he’d promised Lucas he’d stop by before heading there. It didn’t matter too much, Lucas supposed, but he’d really hoped to see his beautiful boyfriend – no, his fiancé, he thought, smiling, although they hadn’t made that official yet – before another busy day, even if only for a minute.

He’d thought about telling Mika about the engagement, because obviously he was going to move out soon, and he wanted to let Mika start the search for a new roommate if he wanted. But he hadn’t done it in the end, not knowing whether Eliott wanted him to start telling people yet.

And he could wait.

Although he did get a bit impatient right this very minute. He silently wished Eliott to hurry up. As soon as his shift ended, Lucas would have to leave to meet up with Imane for their group project in biostatistics. Then he had nonstop classes and lab projects after his shift, so he wouldn’t get to see Eliott until very late tonight.

But it wasn’t the end of the world. Lucas would text Eliott when he got to the campus, and knowing Eliott, he’d wait up for Lucas anyway.

Just as Lucas was about to give up all hope, handing over the register to Maya, the door opened and Eliott came in.

Lucas jumped up, ready to kiss his boyfriend and tell him he’d missed him since he left him in bed a few hours ago, but Eliott stopped a few feet in front of the counter, not coming up to Lucas.

Maya looked at him with pure confusion on her face. Lucas was sure he didn’t look any better, though.

“Eliott? What’s up? Is everything okay?”

Eliott shook his head, a gloomy expression on his face. Lucas felt a vice grip constricting his lungs as worry spread through his veins.

“Eliott? Tell me what’s wrong.”

Eliott just stood there, motionless.

Then he started speaking in a deep, sullen voice.

“I am not who you think I am.”

“What? Eliott, what the fuck?”

Lucas’ voice rose a couple of octaves, fighting the panic that crashed over him.

“I am not who you think I am,” Eliott repeated.

Lucas remembered those exact words from their first meeting, but he had no clue what was going on, and just gaped at Eliott, not understanding what was happening, frozen in fear.

“Who do you think I am, Lucas?”, Eliott asked.

“What the fuck, Eliott? I know who you are. What is going on?”

“Who am I, then?”

“Fuck!”, Lucas shouted, exasperated, agitated beyond words. “You’re Eliott. My fucking boyfriend. That’s who you are, Eliott!”

“Ah,” Eliott said, and if Lucas hadn’t been so upset, he would have noticed that Eliott’s eyes were sparkling. “I knew you wouldn’t know who I am. I’m not your boyfriend, Lucas.”

And as Lucas gasped, Eliott sank on one knee and held out a small square box.

“I am not who you think I am, Lucas… I am not your boyfriend, because I am your fiancé.”

Lucas let out a small cry, but he didn’t care as he ran out from behind the counter and tackled Eliott.

“You asshole! You scared the fuck out of me! I thought I had a heart attack!”, he whined, his hands holding fast to Eliott’s shoulders as he peppered Eliott’s face with kisses.

Eliott laughed brightly, and it echoed through the shop.

“But you'll still marry me, Lucas, right, even though I am an asshole?”

“Yes, you asshole. Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes...”

And with every yes, he pressed his lips to Eliott’s, until Eliott licked into his mouth and Lucas didn’t have any chance of repeating it again.

Maya hooted from behind the counter, and the few customers seated in the shop started applauding.

Lucas pulled back from Eliott’s mouth, blushing fervently, but smiled widely.

“So, are you gonna put that ring on my finger sometime soon, sweetheart?”, he asked, a challenge in his voice to hide his emotions.

Eliott, of course, saw right through him, and pecked him on the lips once more.

“Give me your hand.”

And slowly but certainly, he slid the small gold band on Lucas’ finger.

“We should probably announce it during Emile’s wedding dinner,” he mumbled mischievously, and Lucas laughed out loud, even though a few stray tears glided down his cheeks as he looked at the gold catching the sunlight.

“I love you, Eliott,” he choked out.

“Love you too, husband-to-be,” Eliott replied, tenderly. “Am I forgiven for the near heart attack then?”

“Shut up,” Lucas said, embarrassed.

Then Maya cut in.

“Okay, lovebirds,” she said, “congratulations and all that, but this is a coffee shop, you know. You gonna order anything, Eliott?”

Eliott giggled.

“Not from you, Maya, sorry. I am rather picky. Only have my favourite barista make my drinks, I’m afraid.”

Lucas chuckled.

“Don’t feel bad about it, Maya. He’s the worst, really. I mean, he’s my favourite customer and all that, but seriously, he only ever orders tea. Who even does that?”

Laughter rang out through the shop, and Lucas marveled about the joy on Eliott’s face, the happiness shining clearly in his eyes.

“Best fucking tea ever.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please feel free to point out any errors.
> 
> And you know... that comment field... it is there for a reason. Not just to make me feel warm fuzzy feelings, but also because your feedback helps me identify where I can improve next time. So yeah, use it, people! 💙
> 
> <3

**Author's Note:**

> Feel free to point out any errors.
> 
> And comments really are the high point of my day, lately.
> 
> <3


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